1 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What does Jacob ask Amy to do?

A．Enjoy the flowers.

B．Provide help.

C．Grow flowers.

2. How often does Jacob water flowers?

A．Every day.

B．Every two days.

C．Every three days.

3. What do we know about Jacob’s flowers?

A．They lack water.

B．They lack sunshine.

C．Their leaves turn yellow.

4. What will Jacob do?

A．Water flowers in time.

B．Learn about growing flowers.

C．Grow flowers with Amy.

2 . Macquarie Island is a tiny island that’s part of Australia. It’s about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. The island’s been made a world heritage area because it’s so untouched, but this unique environment is under threat from some unwanted visitors.

It all started when seal hunters came to the island in the early 1800s. They brought rabbits with them as a source of food for the journey, and also on board the ships were rats and mice, which made their way onto the island too. They’re being blamed for destroying the homes of marine birds, causing soil loss and ripping up plant cover, as these before-and-after photos show.

So what’s being done about the problem? It starts with a team of helicopters that fly across the island carrying these giant containers. Inside them are poisoned pellets (有毒饲料) which are dropped and spread across the island. For any rabbits that survived the baiting (诱饵) , there’s a plan B. This special team of dogs is being put through a final training. It’ll be their job to track down any remaining rabbits. They have to also learn to behave around the island’s native wildlife. The dogs could be here for years or until the task is complete. The dogs don’t actually kill the rabbits. They find them, then the hunters decide to either catch the rabbits or shoot them.

But the program has received a bit of criticism. Some people argue 25 million dollars is a lot of money to be spending on wiping out rabbits and rodents (啮齿目动物), and in the process, some native birds will be killed because of the baiting.

The reality is the problem isn’t going to be solved overnight. The people running the program say that even if one pair of rabbits is left alive, the whole task will be seen as a failure, which means these guys could be here for a long time, trying to ensure that this precious island remains protected from pests.

1. Who are these unwanted visitors?

A．Seal hunters.

B．Marine wildlife.

C．Native birds.

D．Foreign species.

2. What do the underlined words “ripping up” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Advancing.

B．Destroying.

C．Dividing

D．Balancing

3. What is being done to solve the problem of unwanted visitors on Macquarie Island?

A．Poisoned pellets are being dropped on the island from helicopters.

B．A team of hunters is being trained to catch or shoot rabbits.

C．Native birds are being protected from the unwanted visitors.

D．A special team of dogs is being sent to kill the rabbits.

4. What is the goal of the program?

A．To spend as little money as possible.

B．To protect native birds from the unwanted visitors.

C．To ensure that no pair of rabbits survive on the island.

D．To train dogs to track down the rabbits on the island.

3 . Must-See Destinations in 2024

Are you ready to explore the world in 2024? Whether you dream of sailing down famous European rivers or exploring unique places, our list of must-see destinations is here to inspire your travels.

Spain

Throw yourself into the rich culture and history of Spain. From the sunny beaches of Tenerife to the Moorish architecture (建筑物) of Andalucía, there’s so much to explore in this lively country. Discover the UNESCO World Heritage (遗产) city of La Laguna and become amazed at the beauty of Cordoba, Seville, and La Alhambra, or relax on a beach holiday to Majorca or Tenerife.

Montenegro

Despite its size, Montenegro has beautiful beaches, rich history, and a breathtaking channel. Experience the beauty of the Montenegrin coast — Dalmatia’s jewel (宝石) is the UNESCO World Heritage listed oasis of Dubrovnik, famously praised by Lord Bryon as The Pearl of the Adriatic.

Croatia

Discover the beauty that is Dubrovnik. Explore the 16th-century city’s defensive walls and red-roofed buildings. Sail along Croatia’s Adriatic Coast, where attractive villages and beautiful towns like Pula, Rovinj, and Poreč are just waiting to be explored...

South Africa

Explore the wonders of South Africa, from the Garden Route’s nature reserves to the thrill of a Safari drive in the Kariega Game Reserve. Discover the different plants and animals while searching for the “Big Five” on an unforgettable South Africa holiday.

With over 25 years of experience creating holidays for the curious, Travel Department ensures that your journey is in good hands. Plus as a trusted Reader’s Digest Travel partner, you can get special deals when you travel with them across lots of different 2024 holidays. If you want to know more information, please click here.

1. What do Spain and Montenegro have in common?

A．They are both praised by tourists.

B．They both have world heritage cities.

C．They are known for their architectures.

D．They both own beaches and rich history.

2. Which destination will attract people who are interested in creatures?

A．Spain.	B．South Africa.
C．Montenegro.	D．Croatia.

3. Where is this text most likely from?

A．A website.	B．A guidebook.
C．A novel.	D．A magazine.

4 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is Tom doing?

A．Preparing for a speech.

B．Reading some online news.

C．Looking at pictures of wildlife.

2. Why was the 3-mile fence created?

A．To decorate the busy highway.

B．To make the bridge look natural.

C．To guide animals toward the bridge.

3. What do we know about the bridge?

A．It is under construction.

B．It has been used by animals.

C．It has got no traffic for a long time.

4. When will the speakers set off?

A．At 3:00 pm.

B．At 3:30 pm.

C．At 4:00 pm.

5 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容或括号内所给词的恰当形式填空。

Macquarie Island was a beautiful place where its native    1     (inhabit), including royal penguins, king penguins, and elephant seals, existed in harmony     2    their natural habitat for thousands of years. However, in 1810, humans arrived on the island with rats and mice. These small animals quickly took over the island，    3     (eat) the birds’ eggs and attacking baby birds. Cats were brought to control the rats and mice, but they also enjoyed eating birds. Meanwhile, the     4     (explode) rabbit population provided food for the cats,     5     ( mean) that the number of cats also increased rapidly.

6 . My PhD project is to protect a tiny species of fish, whose color is greenish. To ______eggs, Clanwilliam sandfish (沙鱼) swim to ______tributaries (支流) of the Doring river system in South Africa. Local people say it was once a ______event: The water seemed to change ______ as thousands of sandfish migrated to the shallower tributaries. Now, ______those numbers have reduced to dangerous levels.

My PhD project at South Africa’s University of Cape Town is in ______with a nongovernmental organization in saving sandfish. Human activity, climate change, etc, are drying up the rivers. As newly young sandfish try to ______to the upstream (上游), they now get ______in shallow tributaries. The sandfish population has decreased by more than 90% since we began keeping count. They’re now regarded as ______species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.When the river starts to dry up, we ______young sandfish and put them into buckets of water, then move them by truck to prepared fish nurseries (鱼种场) ______ by local people. The support from local people is amazing. Once the sandfish are large enough to be less threatened, we will ______them to the natural ecosystem.

The data so far show the project has been ______. We’ve ______ about 36,000 young sandfish over the past three years. I’m looking forward to ______those numbers next year.

1.

A．lay

B．hide

C．drag

D．lie

2.

A．shorter

B．quieter

C．shallower

D．smaller

3.

A．sad

B．puzzling

C．moving

D．wonderful

4.

A．speed

B．colour

C．environment

D．climate

5.

A．however

B．therefore

C．besides

D．moreover

6.

A．relationship

B．schedule

C．solution

D．cooperation

7.

A．keep

B．lead

C．swim

D．turn

8.

A．stuck

B．hurt

C．annoyed

D．punished

9.

A．balanced

B．injured

C．endangered

D．changeable

10.

A．keep

B．control

C．fool

D．catch

11.

A．repaired

B．donated

C．discovered

D．required

12.

A．return

B．devote

C．sell

D．show

13.

A．serious

B．extra

C．successful

D．convenient

14.

A．received

B．rescued

C．recorded

D．cleared

15.

A．resulting from

B．adding to

C．talking about

D．cutting off

7 . What should the woman do according to the man?

A．Bring her pet dog to the countryside.

B．Try to overcome her own depression.

C．Just take it easy.

8 . For most of December, Adele Adkins had the top-selling album in Australia, followed by Ed Sheeran, and then there was a collection of songs that took everyone by surprise.

Songs Of Disappearance is a collection of calls from endangered Australian birds. Last month, it briefly reached No.3 on the country’s top 50 albums chart (排行榜) — ahead of Taylor Swift.

Anthony Albrecht, a PhD student at Charles Darwin University, produced the album with Professor Stephen Garnett. “I knew it was a crazy thing to suggest. But Stephen’s a little bit crazy like me and he let me do it,” Albrecht said.

Songs Of Disappearance was published with a university report which found that 1 in 6 Australian bird species are now threatened. The album records 53 of those species.

“Some sing what you might think of as bird songs, but not all of them,” said SeanDooley, who represents the conservation organization Bird life Australia. “Songs from the golden bowerbird sound like a death cry from some sci-fi series. And the love songs from Christmas Island frigate bird, which has a piece of skin hanging under its mouth that caninflate (膨胀) like a huge red balloon, sound as bizarre as its unusual looks.”

There’s also the Christmas Island pigeon. When people hear that pigeon, they might think that it’s a human making silly noises, Dooley added.

The Charles Darwin University and Bird life Australia report does document successes in protecting endangered birds, the hope being that the album will protect more species.

“The increased awareness can make a difference,” Dooley said. “When we have a community on board, that brings pressure to the government to do the right thing. We know that these conservation actions do work.”

1. Whose album reached No.1 on the chart in December?

A．Taylor Swift’s.

B．Adele Adkins’.

C．Ed Sheeran’s.

D．Anthony Albrecht’s.

2. What can be learned from the university report?

A．About 53 bird species are threatened in Australia.

B．It has not found success in protecting endangered birds.

C．One sixth of Australian bird species are now endangered.

D．Music is very powerful in encouraging people to protect birds.

3. Which is closest in meaning to “bizarre”in paragraph 5?

A．Strange.

B．Beautiful.

C．Loud.

D．Sharp.

4. What does Sean Dooley think of Anthony Albrecht’s project?

A．Crazy.

B．Amusing.

C．Uncreative.

D．Helpful.

9 . For Cruz, who grew up in Peru’s mountainous region of Cuzco, fog represents a massive opportunity. As a boy, he had to hike for more than an hour every day across hills to collect water from the nearest source. But over time, he realized that during the rainy season, droplets of water would gather in the large leaves of banana trees. So one day he and his father tried to build a canal system with the leaves to collect water and it turned out a success. But afterwards, he moved to Lima at the age of 25.

There, shocked by the water shortages and expensive water supply that some of the city’s poorest residents were faced with, Cruz set up El Movimiento Peruanos sin Agua in 2005. The idea was to deploy the method he learned in his hometown on a larger scale, which would provide free, independently sourced and easily accessible water to those who needed it most. He began installing (安装) a traditional fog catcher model developed in the 1980s.

At the highest point of Los Tres Miradores, there is a curious set of large structures that resemble a fleet of ships in the sky. They are so-called “fog catchers”. Netted devices, made of high density Raschel polyethylene and spanning several meters wide, are lined up at the top of a misty mound and linked by a network of tubes that lead to storage containers. The 40 fog catchers there provide enough water for 180 families, whether to bathe, clean, drink or to irrigate crops on small garden patches.

Supporters believe that fog catchers have the potential to improve water supply for communities around the world among the ever-challenging circumstances. German researcher Lummerich says, “They are cheap, easy to construct.” In a world searching for water supply systems, it is one important puzzle piece that can make an essential difference locally.

However, there are some issues. For one, fog catchers require space, which is not always easy to come by in cities, let alone urban slums. At the same time, fog catchers must be properly cleaned and maintained to stay effective. Most crucially, appropriate climate conditions are required. Fog isn’t everywhere.

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

A．Employ.

B．Adjust.

C．Design.

D．Study.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The reason why Cruz installed fog catchers.

B．The difficulties of constructing a canal system.

C．The installation and benefits of fog catchers.

D．The inspiration Cruz gained to build a canal system.

3. What is the biggest challenge associated with the use of fog catchers?

A．High costs.	B．Public opposition.
C．Space limitation.	D．Climate conditions.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Urban Areas: A Struggle for Sufficient Water

B．Innovative Water Collection Techniques in Peru

C．The Global Water Crisis and Possible Solutions

D．Fog Catchers: A Local Solution with Global Potential

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

When you are going to visit Beijing, it’s likely that you’ll want to visit the Tiananmen Square.     1     square is impressively big and is located to the north, separating Beijing from the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is a breathtaking palace complex (建筑群) that     2    (house) the palace museum and was formally the Chinese royal palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. Covering 178 acres, the Forbidden City is made up of 980 buildings.

The Temple of Heaven, including Lama Temple (Yonghe Temple), the Beijing Temple of Confucius and Beijing Zoo,     3    (recommend) as well. Lama Temple is one of Beijing’s most attractive and best-preserved     4    (temple). The zoo is one of the oldest in China,     5    (date) back to 1906, and is home to a great variety of animals.

The Great Wall isn’t located in the city itself, but if you have made the trip to Beijing, you can’t leave     6     going to see it. There are many organized tours from Beijing     7     will take you to the Mutianyu Great Wall. If you don’t want     8    (sweep) away by big crowds in summer, visit the wall in winter. It will be     9    (extreme) cold, but you’ll have a better experience. It will be     10    (easy) to shoot nice pictures, too.