1 . In the heart of Texas, “Bee Czar” Walter Schumacher is saving the world—one hive (蜂群) at a time. And he does it without wearing a protective bee suit. What is his technique? He “communicates” with the bees to avoid being bitten. Walter and his team at the American Honey Bee Protection Agency rescue hives from places that are unwanted—inside the walls of a house or 30 feet up in a neighborhood tree, and relocate the hives where the bees can grow and pollinate (授粉) in peace.

According to Walter, every third bite of food we eat was pollinated by bees; without them, life would cease existing. But saving bees costs money, so they have got to sell honey to make money.

Walter’s business once was booming with $200,000 in yearly sales. But after losing everything in the past three years, Walter wants to rebuild his honey business so that he can afford to rescue unwanted hives. With his oldest son Will and a small but dedicated team, Walter has a plan to transform their old family farm into their new headquarters, to save more bees and sell more honey.

Saving bees is a big affair. Will runs the business, trying to keep his dad organized; Walter teaches his younger sons Bodhi and Odin the skills of keeping bees, and Will’s wife Meredith is experiencing her first bee rescue. Walter also invites bee technician Jonathan who seeks inner calm by rescuing bees and scaffolding (脚手架) pro Sandy, who can reach angry bees in places ladders can’t and dreams of talking to bees herself. Walter brings audiences into the hive when he trains beekeepers to safely handle millions of bees Will plans to sign big contracts selling honey to businesses like restaurants and supermarkets, meanwhile undertaking dangerous hive rescues.

1. Which of the following can best describe Walter’s work of rescuing bees?

A．Interesting.

B．Tough.

C．Tiring.

D．Simple.

2. What does Walter think of bees?

A．They are important to us.	B．They are not in danger.
C．They can’t grow in peace.	D．They can bite many people.

3. What is Walter’s present plan?

A．To find more hives.	B．To expand his team.
C．To rebuild his business.	D．To train more bee raisers.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Why Walter started the big affair.

B．What Walter’s family do to save bees.

C．Whether Walter sticks to his business.

D．How Walter teaches his sons to keep bees.

2 . Biologists who study evolution (进化) have always been interested in animals that developed on islands. In some situations, animals on islands changed over time and came to look very different from the same species that lived on the mainland.

The experts point to animals such as the dwarf elephant that once lived on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The animal is now extinct. When it lived, however, it was only the size of a small horse. Elephants that live today in Africa and Asia are much larger than that. In the West Indies, researchers found a giant rodent (啮齿动物) that looked like a rat. However, it was about the same size as an American black bear. Rats are, of course, many times smaller than bears.

Evolutionary experts came to call this phenomenon “island effect”. They used this term to describe the fact that animals who normally have small bodies “upsize” on an island, while the opposite is true for animals who usually have large bodies.

The “island effect” produces strange-sized animals because large animals require more food than small animals. On an island, there is a limited amount of food. As a result, larger animals become smaller over generations in order to survive with lower food intake. For small animals, there is not as much risk from predators on an island, so they often grow larger.

Recently, researchers released their findings about 1,231 existing animals and 350 extinct ones that represent 23 million years of life. They found that animals on islands were more at risk of extinction compared to their relatives on the mainland. The arrival of human settlers increased the extinction risk for these strange animals.

Roberto Rozzi, a paleoecologist at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany said that the extinction line has become even sharper in recent decades.

The researchers call the islands “biodiversity hotspots”. Even though they only make up 7 percent of the Earth’s land mass, they account for 20 percent of the land species.

1. Why are the animals introduced in paragraph 2?

A．To compare the two species.	B．To lead in the “island effect”.
C．To show two kinds of rare animals.	D．To stress the change of surroundings.

2. What does “the opposite” refer to in paragraph 3?

A．Animals of normal small bodies “upsize” on an island.

B．Animals of normal small bodies “downsize” on an island.

C．Animals of normal large size have small bodies on an island.

D．Animals of normal large size have larger bodies on an island.

3. Which of the following does the “island effect” agree with?

A．Some things never change.	B．The gain outweighs the loss.
C．Humans live in harmony with nature.	D．The fittest animals survive in natural selection.

4. What is the most suitable title for the text?

A．The History of Unique Island Animals	B．The Benefits of Saving Island Animals
C．Unique Island Animals at Greater Changes	D．Biological Diversity Threatened by Humans

3 . There’s a researcher in Denmark who has spent 25 years surveying insect populations by driving his old Ford Anglia down the same country roads and counting the number of small insects squashed (挤压) up against the glass window of his car. Back when he started, he’d regularly have to clean dead insects off his car. But in recent years, he has experienced a lot of “zero-insect days”. He recalls the joy of catching fireflies on his family farm in Texas as a child. With more streetlights and the switch to LED lights, it’s becoming harder for fireflies to spot potential mates.

Imagine a world without insects! We might breathe a sigh of relief at the thought of mosquito-free summers. However, a world with no insects is unlikely. Insects are being shifted to an unhappy state where there will be far more bedbugs (床虱) and mosquitoes and far fewer bees and monarch butterflies.

Those changes in biodiversity come with some results. Farmers may have to fight off more of the harmful insects that attack crops, for instance, and insect-pollinated fruits and vegetables will become hard to grow on a large scale. Some insect-eating animals will decline with a lack of food, which has already happened to some birds. Water and soil quality could also be in danger.

After knowing some facts, we may find that our attitude towards some insects has shifted from loathing (憎恶) to love, or at the very least, appreciation. We can know how much we benefit from insects, and what we stand to lose without them.

As researcher Martin puts it, “Our reliance on insects is like the Internet: When parts of the network are removed, the less Internet there is, until eventually it doesn’t work anymore.” A world without the Internet would be difficult but livable. The same can’t be said for a world without insects.

1. What has the Danish researcher found in recent years?

A．Few people pay special attention to fireflies.

B．Insects are having a survival crisis.

C．Country roads are perfect for firefly catching.

D．Many insects can avoid moving cars.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The damage insects do to crops.	B．The reduction of insect-eating animals.
C．Ways to deal with biodiversity.	D．Consequences of changes in insect varieties.

3. What can be inferred from Martin’s comment?

A．Insects are as important as the Internet.

B．Insects are appreciated by human beings.

C．Humans can’t help but live with the Internet.

D．Humans are heavily dependent on insects.

4. What is the purpose of this text?

A．To explain the importance of insects.	B．To recall a childhood experience.
C．To present people’s attitude to insects.	D．To express appreciation to insects.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填人1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Exploring nature allows us to catch sight of rare animals and come across special places of beauty. Of course, none of this would be possible     1     protected nature areas. This is     2     national parks are so important. A few national parks allow things like hotels and recreation areas     3     (construct) within them, but most parks do not allow any development at all.

The very first national park     4     (be)also one of the most famous in the world—Yellowstone, in the western USA. Nineteenth-century explorers     5     (amaze) by what they saw in Yellowstone. Apart from the beautiful mountains,     6     (rush) rivers, and tall waterfalls, there were geysers, which sent boiling water as high as 91 meters into the air. Then there were the hot springs, as colourful as rainbows. These explorers wanted to protect the natural     7     (feature) of the area from development so that future generations could enjoy the area. And so, in 1872, Yellowstone was established as     8     national park. Today, around four million people a year visit it. Many come hoping to see wildlife,     9     is no longer as common in the American West as it once was. Everyone comes to see the geysers,     10    (especial) Old Faithful, which sits near the centre of the park, and sends 95. 6 ℃ water up to 56 metres into the air every 44 to 125 minutes.

9 . Why wouldn’t scientists want to try and save the world’s largest flower, especially when it, Rafflesia, is their country’s national flower? However, when you add to the fact that the world’s largest flower is also the world’s smelliest, then suddenly the “panda of the plant world” begins to look more like a headache.

Sofi Mursidawati, a PhD in agriculture at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on the island of Java, is one of the world’s leading experts on this strange flower, and her efforts to build a body of knowledge that will allow for the creation of the flower into the future could save it from extinction. Rafflesia has no leaves, roots, or stems, but rather only one giant, one-meter-long, 20-pound bloom that smells like rotting meat. Found only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo, its artificial creation in the face of habitat loss is a problem.

With seeds the size of grains, pollinated flowers infect a kind of vines(葬本植物) called Tetrastygma, before slowly growing over many months into an enormous cabbage一sized bulb. The curiosities don’t end there. In fact, it barely qualifies as a plant. It branched away from having genetics that code for photosynthesis(光合作用) millions of years ago, and relies entirely upon its host —the vines for energy.

Just as it’s difficult to get pandas to breed, Rafflesia is a pain in the neck, as the blooms last only a week. After collecting Rafflesia seeds, and a variety of Tetrastygma vines, it took Mursidawati four years to welcome the first smelly flower into the Bogor Botanical Gardens. A decade later, the work was still slow going. However, the creation is doing one thing very well：creating specimens(样本) to send to botanic gardens around the world, creating what will likely be the strange flower’s greatest chance for survival.

1. What does the author think of creating Rafflesia?

A．Meaningless.

B．Simple.

C．Attractive.

D．Challenging.

2. What can we learn from paragraph 2?

A．Rafflesia is different from common plants.

B．It’s a problem for Rafflesin to live in the rainforests.

C．Rafflesia has already been saved from extinction.

D．Soli Mursidawati has created Rafflesia successfully.

3. Where does Rafflesia get its energy?

A．From the sun.

B．From its host.

C．From the earth.

D．From the air.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．The World’s Largest Flower Is Endangered.

B．Raflesin Becomes World’s Largest Flower.

C．Woman Scientist Creates Various Flowers.

D．Woman Scientist Races to Save World’s Largest and Smelliest Flower.

10 . An underwater volcano eruption in Tongaon Saturday (Jan. 15, 2022) was captured as it happened in shocking images from an Earth — watching satellite, showing the great power for the explosive event in the South Pacific. The volcano eruption on the island of Hunga Tonga — Hunga Ha’apai is visible as a spectacular explosion in views from the GOES West Earth — observing satellite operated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

A video of the eruption shows a vast mass of material from the volcano rising high into the atmosphere like a giant mushroom during the eruption as a shockwave extends outward from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai, one of the 170 islands that make up the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga. The eruption spawned a 4-foot tsunami that hit Tonga’s capital of Nuku’alofa, which is about 40 miles south of the volcano. A deafening noise from the eruption was heard across the Pacific Ocean, reaching as far away as Alaska, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Nuku’alofa was covered in a film of volcanic dust, according to the AP. There have been no official reports of injuries or damage from Tonga’s capital on Jan. 15, 2022, but its Internet access was interrupted by the event, the volcano on Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai first erupted on Dec, 20, 2021 and then exploded with a massive eruption on Jan, 13, which was also spotted by GOES West, NOAA officials said in a statement. That eruption on Jan. 13 was seven times more powerful than the December event and sent a huge mass of ash and gas over 12 miles into Earth’s atmosphere.

Saturday’s eruption also sent an ash mass to an altitude of nearly 12 miles, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the AP. New Zealand officials hoped to send military flights over the volcano to assess its status, followed by aid and supplies for Tonga, where water supplies may be polluted, Ardern added.

1. Which word can be used to describe the eruption in Tonga on Jan, 15?

A．Invisible.

B．Powerful.

C．Common.

D．Beautiful.

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

A．Spread.

B．Captured.

C．Caused.

D．Showed

3. What did the volcanic eruption on Jan lead to?

A．The dirty atmosphere of Nuku’alofa.

B．The terrible damage in Tonga’s capital.

C．Large numbers of injuries in Tonga.

D．Other volcanic eruptions in Tonga.

4. Why did New Zealand officials hope to send military flights?

A．To remove the polluted atmosphere.

B．To provide aid and supplies.

C．To stop the ash and gas erupting out.

D．To learn more details about the volcano.