1 . Water keeps us alive. When it runs out, we have a problem.

About one out of four people on the planet are facing a shortage of water. Seventeen countries around the world are dealing with high-water stress. This means they are using almost all the water they have access to. Many are dry countries. Some waste much of their water. Some may currently use too much of their groundwater that they should be saving. Several big cities face acute shortages. These include Sao Paulo, Brazil; Chennai, India; and Cape Town, South Africa. A year ago, Cape Town faced nay Zero-the day when all its dams would he dry.

Climate change adds to the risk of water shortages. Rainfall is less steady. The water supply becomes less reliable. The days grow hotter. More water evaporates(蒸发)from lakes and rivers even as demand for water increases. By 2030, the number of cities in the high-stress category may have risen to 45 and include almost 470 million people.

All over the world, farmers compete with city residents for water. Rich urban places, such as Los Angeles, use too much water for pools and golf courses. But the worst problem is the growth of cities. Bangalore, India, for example, had a few years with little rain. It built over its many lakes or filled them with city waste. The lakes are no longer the rain water storage tanks they once were. Bangalore now imports water. A lot of the imported water, however, gets lost on the way to Bangalore.

To address this issue, what can be done? First, cities can plug leaks in their water distribution system. Wastewater can be recycled. Rain can be harvested and saved for hard times. Lakes and wetlands can be cleaned up and old wells can be restored. And farmers can switch from water-intensive crops like rice to less-thirsty crops like millet(小米).

Experts are looking at ways to reduce the number of people on the planet. They are looking at ways to reduce the size of cities. They are looking for ways to encourage people, factories and farmers to use less water.

1. What can we know from Paragraph 2?

A．A quarter of the world's population is living with water shortages.

B．Nearly all countries are facing acute water shortages now.

C．Underground water should he used to meet the water demand.

D．Measures have been taken to deal with the water shortage in India.

2. What is the main idea of the third paragraph?

A．Rainfall is not as steady as before.	B．Climate change may lead to water shortages.
C．The water supply relies more on rainfall.	D．Hotter weather changes the water demand.

3. What can farmers do to deal with water shortage?

A．Plug leaks in the water distribution system.	B．Clean up lakes and wetlands and restore wells.
C．Reduce the number of people in the cities.	D．Grow less-water consumption crops instead.

4. What will be discussed if the passage continues?

A．How to prevent from climate change.	B．How to inspire people to save water.
C．How to recycle wastewater in cities.	D．How to make people get access to clean water.

2 . 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。

The Environment Agency today is setting out    1    plan that it leads the way toward a greener, healthier future. Its new 5-year plan, EA2025, calls for a new approach which betters health, fair and environmental improvement. By 2025 the agency aims to have created more climate adaptive places and infrastructure(基础设施), by ensuring the nation is prepared for flooding, coastal change and drought. The plan also highlights a renewed focus    2    improving the health of air, land and water for people and nature-and ensuring green    3    (grow) for a lasting future.

Since lockdown began, the Environment Agency    4    (remain)fully operational, with the majority of staff    5    (work)from home, and frontline staff remaining active on the ground handling issues such as flood risk and pollution.

Staff have been making the    6    (good)use of technology to continue work-such as remotely concluding legal hearings and using drones(无人机)to monitor regulated sites, and looking at how we can adopt these practices in the future to be more efficient and    7    (effect).Teams have been serving equipment    8    supports public water supply, food production and river flows.

The hot weather led to several fish rescues,    9    fisheries enforcement teams(渔业执法队)continued to investigate illegal fishing. Last month a major coastal flood defense plan    10    (complete)which will protect more than 300 houses in West Sussex.

3 . Across Asia many people have just witnessed the natural wonder that is a total solar eclipse.     1    

This week’s total eclipse could be seen in eastern India before slowly moving across Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Japan, and the Pacific Ocean. Yesterday, when it reached eastern China, people flocked (聚集)into the streets to witness the astronomical wonder.

As daylight disappeared and the sky quickly darkened.     2     Cities such as Shanghai were plunged into (陷入) darkness during what is thought to be the longest total eclipse of the 21st century. It lasted 6 minutes and 39 seconds.

Total solar eclipses of such a long duration are very rare events.     3     Shao Zhenyi, an astronomer at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China explained: “We’ll have to wait a few hundred years for another opportunity to observe a solar eclipse that lasts this long? so it’s a very special opportunity. ‘‘

But while millions celebrate this phenomenon, it should be remembered that total eclipses have not always been such treasured events. Many cultures traditionally believed that a total eclipse was a bad omen (凶兆) or a supernatural event.     4     Others believed that the eclipse signified oncoming disasters. Nowadays it appears that these fears and superstitions(迷信)are long forgotten. As daylight once again flooded Asian cities such as Shanghai, whoops and cheers could be heard among the gathered crowds.

Reflecting on what had just happened, one Shanghai resident described the eclipse as “eerie”(怪诞的，奇异的), while another said “It’s like magic, the day turns into night in such a short period of time. I have no idea where I am right now.     5    . “

A．It feels like a different world.

B．They happen but once in a lifetime.

C．Those watching were left far from disappointed.

D．Some believed that evil gods were eating the Sun.

E．People were frightened by the sudden darkness.

F．Some people thought it was a natural wonder.

G．A total solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth line up in such a way that our view of the Sun is totally hidden by the Moon.

4 . Next time your plane lands, listen to the sound of the tyres hitting the ground. The reason the tyres don’t explode is because they are made of natural rubber. The tyres of cars, motorbikes and trucks are also often made of the same stuff.

Natural rubber comes from trees, Workers cut the trunks of the trees and collect a white liquid called latex. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, huge numbers of rubber trees were planted in countries including Malaysia, Burma and Brazil. More than a century ago, scientists discovered how to make man-made rubber, but natural rubber is much stronger and can last much longer. Nearly half the rubber which is produced each year is natural rubber and there is always a need for more.

Rubber trees are not easy to grow. They are affected by changes in temperature, to much or not enough rain, high winds and disease. Some trees survive while others die and it’s all down to their genes. Two British organizations, the Tun Abdul Razak Research Center (TARRC) and The Genome Analysis Center (TGAC), have been working together to look at rubber trees. This is the genes fit together in very long chains of DNA. The genome for a plant such as a rubber tree or animal needs to grow. The genome contains all the information the plant or animal needs to grow. The genome for a plant such as a rubber tree is smaller than a human genome but it is still very long, which is why it has been so difficult to find. As Ewan Mollison of TARRC says, the work has been like putting a picture puzzle together where all the pieces show blue sea and blue sky.

Now scientists can use the rubber tree genome to produce stronger trees. By understanding the genome, they can change the DNA in rubber trees in useful ways. They can also do it much faster than before. In the future, it will be possible to grow trees which survive climate change and disease.

1. What characteristics of natural rubber can be inferred from Paragraph 1?

A．Inexpensive.

B．Flexible

C．Conductive

D．Explosive.

2. What made natural rubber so demanding each year?

A．Quantities of rubber trees were planted in Southeast Asia

B．Rubber trees are not easily affected by the climate change.

C．By now scientists haven’t discovered how to make man-made rubber.

D．Natural rubber is much tougher and more lasting than man-made rubber.

3. What does Ewan Mollison suggest in Paragraph 3?

A．The work sounds as interesting as a picture puzzle.

B．The genome of a rubber tree is as blue as sea and sky.

C．The genome of a rubber tree is not easy to be identified

D．Completing a picture puzzle with sea and sky is difficult.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The Origin of Natural Rubber	B．The Application of Natural Rubber
C．Natural Rubber: It’s All in the genes	D．Natural Rubber VS Man-made Rubber

5 . The giant panda is beloved of conservationists. It is one of the most recognisable large animals in the world. But it is also evolutionarily odd. It is a type of bear but it is a herbivore(食草动物). It is ironic, then, that this icon of the natural world might actually be an accidental consequence of human activity. Yet this is a convincing interpretation of results just published in a paper in Current Biology, by Wei Fuwen of the Institute of Zoology, in Beijing.

Pandas are not merely herbivores, they are monovores-merely eating bamboo only. Dr Wei wondered when this transition to monovory happened. The answer was, far more recently than anyone had expected.

Dr Wei studied carbon and nitrogen isotopes(同位素) in the bones of a dozen ancestral pandas, dating from between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago, and compared them with those of modern pandas. The study shows that the ancient pandas lived in more varied environments and had broader diets. What is more, they were not yet the obligate(专性的) bamboo feeders which they are today, and they were making subtropical zones and open land their home, rather than living merely in bamboo forests. The question is, what made them change?

There is one obvious possible cause: the spread of man. Organised states clearly existed by about 5,000 years ago. Growing human populations could easily have displaced the ancestors of modern pandas to fringe areas where there was little to eat but bamboo. And if bamboo is all there is to eat, then those that prefer to eat it will be at an evolutionary advantage. The modern, bamboo-eating panda-symbol of animals under pressure from man-may thus have been made the way it is by precisely such human pressures.

1. How did Dr. Wei conduct research into the transition of pandas?

A．Studying the diets of pandas.

B．Calculating the number of pandas.

C．Studying the structure of genes of pandas.

D．Analyzing the isotopic composition of pandas’ bones and teeth.

2. What may lead to the change of pandas’ broad diets to eating bamboo only?

A．The change of their genes.

B．The intended invasion of other herbivores.

C．The unintentional expansion of human activity.

D．The decline in their habitat and thus the shortage of food.

3. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Panda Evolution: By the Hand of Man?	B．Panda: beloved but odd
C．Panda: Herbivores or Monovores?	D．A Study of Ancient Pandas

6 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. When does the conversation probably take place?

A．In the morning

B．At noon

C．In the evening

2. Where is the cat food?

A．In the basement

B．In the cupboard

C．In the fridge

3. Why did the man have to lock everything?

A．The dogs steal their food

B．The kids are not well behaved.

C．The cat opens all the doors

7 . Peggy Lewis lost her house in a brutal tornado, but the tornado couldn’t take the one thing that meant the most.

One _______, Peggy Lewis and her husband, Harris Lee, were ______ the trees blow in the wind outside their home in Eureka, Kansas. The next, they were surrounded by glass from the house’s _______ windows. The roof tore off. The walls caved in. After the tornado had _______, it took a team of neighbors to take them to the hospital. “I thought we were going to_______,” says Lewis.

When the pair ______ to their property three days after that awful night last June, it was _______ that what remained of the house would need to be torn down. But _______ Lewis would let that happen, she wanted one thing—her family Bible.

Lewis had bought the Bible 35 years earlier, at the start of her _______. Like many folks, she’d used it to hold and preserve her ________ history: decades-old photos, a lock of her daughter’s hair, ________ a piece of a scarf her uncle had brought back from the Korean War.

The Bible was the first thing Lewis _______ when she returned to the house. It wasn’t ________ she’d last seen it, _______ top of a dresser in her bedroom. In fact, the dresser wasn’t there at all.

When two volunteers ________ to help the couple dig out, Lewis had one mission for them: “If you can find anything,” she said, “please find my Bible.”

After an hour of _______, one of the volunteers ran up to her. Lewis had tears streaming down her cheeks and a book in her hands. Stunningly, while many books inside the home had been destroyed beyond________, the Bible was still intact(完好无损), even though it had sat in the rain for days. “I________broke down,” says Lewis.

“I thought it was gone forever. It was a(an) ________.”

She knows that while every good book tells stories of catastrophic(灾难性的) weather and unlikely survival, this one actually________it.

1.

A．day

B．minute

C．year

D．night

2.

A．cutting

B．watching

C．planting

D．drawing

3.

A．broken

B．beautiful

C．designed

D．charming

4.

A．passed

B．arrived

C．formed

D．hit

5.

A．leave

B．remember

C．die

D．lose

6.

A．stuck

B．aimed

C．returned

D．referred

7.

A．lucky

B．impossible

C．mad

D．clear

8.

A．before

B．after

C．when

D．until

9.

A．life

B．marriage

C．work

D．college

10.

A．children’s

B．mother’s

C．father’s

D．family’s

11.

A．still

B．even

C．such

D．so

12.

A．took away

B．prepared for

C．handed in

D．looked for

13.

A．where

B．that

C．when

D．why

14.

A．at

B．beside

C．on

D．in

15.

A．slowed down

B．showed up

C．got off

D．turned on

16.

A．recalling

B．guiding

C．searching

D．treating

17.

A．words

B．dreams

C．imagination

D．recognition

18.

A．seldom

B．completely

C．generally

D．mostly

19.

A．accident

B．chance

C．mystery

D．miracle

20.

A．retold

B．painted

C．wanted

D．lived

8 . NASA’s (美国宇航局的) newly announced space tourism program is possibly the biggest mistake in the agency’s history.

Beginning as early as 2020, NASA will offer visits to the International Space Station for $35,000 per night, not including transportation, to pretty much anyone who can pass a physical.

The reason this is a mistake, and a big one, is that NASA has worked for generations to create an image of astronauts as extraordinarily skilled, highly trained, courageous heroes. For example, NASA invites grade schools to participate in creating experiments that are carried on the space station. The astronauts talk to kids from space, sending a message that if you study, work hard and learn math and science, you may reach these heights, too.

According to one report, Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace is making plans to haul four tourists at a time to the space station on SpaceX rockets. U.S. taxpayers forked over a hundred billion dollars to build the International Space Station. It would be nice to try to preserve the image of it as an inspirational achievement, instead of turning it into a flying Howard Johnson’s.

NASA’s press release about the space tourism program tries to cast it as a partnership with the private sector to “provide expanded opportunities” at the space station to “manufacture, market and promote commercial products and services.” But it also states that one goal is “quantifying NASA’s long-term demand for activities in low-Earth orbit.”

The space station has been costing U.S. taxpayers between $1.5 billion and $3 billion each year. If it’s perceived as a private Disneyland for the top tax bracket, public support for the entire space program could be at risk.

But worse, we will have degraded what once inspired us. Sometimes a nation needs stars in its eyes.

1. What is NASA’s space tourism program?

A．To invite students to attend their experiments.

B．To send visitors to the space station.

C．To run a restaurant in the space station.

D．To build a Disneyland in the space station.

2. Why does the writer view the space tourism program as a big mistake?

A．It may influence the science experiment negatively.

B．It will cost people a lot of money.

C．It is too dangerous for visitors.

D．It may destroy the image of astronauts.

3. What does the underlined word “stars” refer to?

A．Planets.

B．Satellites.

C．Wealthy tourists.

D．Astronauts.

9 . Most dog owners have probably been puzzled waiting for their dog to do its business. Instead of just finding a soft area of grass to go number two, they make a whole ritual(仪式) out of it, spinning in a circle before finally squatting(蹲下). Luckily, the ultimate pet owners’ question may finally have been answered.

A few theories have circulated about why dogs might circle before pooping, and most are similar to the reasons they spin before lying down. Trampling around in a circle would flatten the grass around, which would keep tall blades(叶片) from trapping their waste. Another explanation could be that they’re scanning for snakes and predators before they become completely occupied.

But Czech researcher Hynek Burda didn’t quite buy into those theories. Dogs evolved from wolves, which didn’t need to worry much about tall grass. And if they were scanning their environment, keeping still to listen and sniff would be more effective than giving the area a quick once-over. Instead, Burda suggested that dogs spin to get a feel for the Earth’s magnetic pull.

The Earth has a magnetic field around it protecting it from radiation from space, and some animals seem to use it to get a sense of where its North and South poles are. For instance, it’s how birds know which way to migrate. In 2013, Burda published a study in the journal Frontiers in Zoology suggesting dogs have a strong internal compass, too. He and his team spent two years watching 70 dogs poop and pee and recording which way they faced and how strong the magnetic(磁的) field was.

As it turns out, when the magnetic field was calm, dogs preferred to poop facing either north or south.

The pattern couldn’t explain why dogs like facing the Earth’s poles, but the researchers think it might help them remember where they marked their territory.

If they can remember which way they were facing, they might find it easier to find that spot again. So before you roll your eyes when your dog takes ages to do his business, remember that Fido might just be getting scientific about his potty spot.

1. What is the ritual for dogs when they do their business?

A．They poop twice daily.

B．They circle before pooping.

C．They usually make their owner impatient.

D．They just find a soft area to poop.

2. According to Burda, dogs ________.

A．look for snakes and predators before pooping

B．spin to flatten the grass

C．sniff around to scan the environment

D．circle to face a certain direction

3. The writer cites “birds” in order to show ________.

A．how magic they are

B．dogs also can migrate

C．dogs have inner compass

D．the differences between birds and dogs

4. It might be concluded that dogs ________.

A．have good reasons to take ages to do his business

B．are more scientific than human beings

C．are sensitive to radiation from space

D．often play tricks with their owners