1 . While some say school safety depends on guns, cameras or alarms in classrooms, Mark Gomer and Kristi Schiller think specially trained dogs should play an important role in preventing violence in schools.

Gomer’s for-profit company has sent a gun-and-drug detecting dog to patrol (巡查) the halls of an Ohio high school, while Schiller is launching a nonprofit program in Houston to give schools the trained dogs for free.

Gomer’s first full-time safety dog is a three-year-old Dutch shepherd named Atticus, who is reported to duty this school year at Oak Hills High School in Green Township in southwest Ohio. The dog was trained at the school before the summer break, said Gomer, co-owner of American Success Dog Training in Bridgetown, Ohio. Atticus has won over students, parents, teachers and district Superintendent Todd Yohey, who initially worried what people would think of him spending $10,000 on a dog. Gomer has talked to a lot of parents and faculty, and they are saying it was money well-spent, he said.

For her part Schiller is looking to provide safety dogs to schools free of charge. She hopes her new initiative, program “K9S4KIDS”, does for schools what her program “K9S4COPS” did for police departments. She has placed more than 60 dogs with agencies in three years. “These dogs are extremely social, yet highly qualified warriors that are accustomed to going straight to the source of a threat or shooter and disengaging the suspect armed with the weapon,” said Schiller.

As the programs get up and running, questions remain about possible health problems and distractions the dogs can cause.

A school safety expert said those are concerns parents and schools will have to work out. Ken Trump, president of the Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services consulting firm, discussed the issue in general because he was not familiar with either program.

He said the dogs would have to be extremely social to deal with students’ initial excitement “Kids are going to like those dogs,” Trump said, “There are concerns to work around, but with the right dogs and right handler and the right policies and procedures, they should be very beneficial. The dog might be a distraction in the beginning, but they will become part of what students expect to see when they go to school.” “There is so much these dogs can do,” said Ted Dahlin, a deputy who serves on the K9S4COPS board of directors. “If I were going to pick a school to make trouble, it would be one that I knew didn’t have a dog.”

1. Which of the following statements is TRUE about Gomer’s program?

A．Atticus is only welcomed by students.

B．Atticus is provided to the schools free of charge.

C．The main job of Atticus is to patrol a school in Houston.

D．Parents and faculty think the money spent on Atticus is worthwhile.

2. Schiller’s comment on the dogs she provides indicate that ________.

A．dogs have a sharp sense of threat and danger

B．she is confident that the dogs are helpful in schools

C．dogs are a kind of helpful, loyal and qualified animal

D．even suspects armed with weapons are afraid of dogs

3. We can conclude that Ken Trump ________.

A．believes that dogs can be part of students’ school life

B．is a school safety expert supporting one of the programs

C．doesn’t approve of students’ attitudes about dogs in schools

D．agrees that the concerns outweigh the benefits of the program

4. What Ted Dahlin has said implies that ________.

A．he is not going to make trouble in schools

B．having a dog strengthens a school’s safety

C．he likes dogs and really wants to have one

D．more should be considered for planning a crime

2 . LONDON (Reuters) — Quiet place — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is preparing to have her swans counted.

Buckingham Palace has announced that the annual Swan Upping, a tradition dating back to the 12th century which involves a census (审查) of the swan population on the River Thames, will be conducted by the Queen’s official Swan Marker from July 20 to 24.

“With the assistance of the Queen’s Swan Warden, Professor Christopher Perrins of the University of Oxford, the swans and young cygnets (小天鹅) are also assessed for any signs of injury or disease,” Buckingham Palace said in announcing the count.

The process involves the Swan Marker, David Barber, rowing up the Thames for five days with the Swan Warden in traditional skiffs while wearing special scarlet uniforms and counting, weighing and measuring swans and cygnets.

It may seem odd, but it is very important to the Queen. According to custom, Britain’s sovereign owns all unmarked, mute swans in open water, but the Queen now exercises the right only on stretches of the Thames and its nearby tributaries.

In medieval times, the Swan Marker would not only travel up the river counting the swans, but would catch as many as possible as they were sought after for banquets and feasts.

This year, the Swan Marker and the Swan Warden are particularly keen to discover how much damage is being caused to swans and cygnets by attacks from dogs and from discarded fishing tackle (渔具).

It is also an important year because Queen Elizabeth has decided to join her team of Swan Uppers for part of the census. She will follow them up the river and visit a local school project on the whole subject of swans, cygnets and the Thames.

“Education and conservation are essential to the role of Swan Upping and the involvement of school children is always a rewarding experience,” Buckingham Palace said.

1. In medieval times, ________.

A．swans were better protected than now

B．a lot of swans were killed by dogs

C．swans were a delicious dish on royal banquets

D．common people could catch the swans

2. We can infer from the passage that the process of counting the swans ________.

A．remains almost unchanged in the past years

B．involves a lot of royal members

C．sometimes lasts longer than before

D．is always guarded by special soldiers

3. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

A．Britain’s Queen is concerned about swans.

B．Britain’s Queen orders a count of swan.

C．An old tradition in Buckingham Palace.

D．Queen Elizabeth will count swans herself.

4. The underlined word “tributaries” can be best replaced by ________.

A．districts

B．banks

C．trees

D．branches

3 . My husband and I live near San Luis Obispo, California, close to the beach. In November 2023, during the humpback whale migration, we kayaked (划皮划艇) out to watch the wildlife. We were in awe watching these graceful whales breach and spray through their blowholes.

At the time, my friend Liz was staying with us. Initially, she refused to join us on the water, fearing the kayak would overturn among the whales. After some cajoling (劝说) she finally agreed to join me. The following morning, we set out early and had our first whale sighting just past the pier: two humpbacks swimming toward us. How amazing to be that close to a creature that size, I thought as the whales dipped under the waterline.

When whales go down after breaching, they leave what looks like an oil slick on the water. I figured if we paddled toward that spot, we’d be safe from the whales, since they’d just left. We followed them at a distance — or what I thought was a distance. I later found out that it’s recommended to keep 300 feet away. We were more like 60 feet away.

Suddenly, we were surrounded by jumping silverfish fleeing from the whales. Before we could react, our kayak was lifted out of the water about six feet, bracketed by massive jaws. Liz and I slipped out of the kayak into the whale’s mouth. As the whale’s mouth closed, I felt the creature begin to dive and had no idea how deep we’d be dragged. Still, I didn’t panic. I just kept thinking. I’ve got to fight this. I’ve got to breathe.

Whales have enormous mouths but tiny throats. Anything they can’t swallow they spit right out. That included us. As soon as the whale dipped underwater, it ejected us, and we popped back up onto the surface about a foot apart. The entire ordeal lasted only about 10 seconds.

Other kayakers rushed to our aid, shocked to see us alive. But I am much more aware of the power of nature and the ocean than I was before. Liz was shaken up, comparing the ordeal to a near-death experience, and she says her whale-watching days are over. But even she had to laugh when she got home that afternoon and realized she’d brought back a souvenir. When she pulled off her shirt, six silverfish flopped out.

1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．At first, Liz was hesitant to go on the kayaking trip because she was not interested in whale watching.

B．If Liz and I had maintained a distance of 300 feet from the whales, we might have avoided the subsequent danger.

C．Liz and I slipped into the whale’s mouth because jumping silverfish overturned our kayak.

D．Liz is likely to go on another whale-watching trip someday because she found a precious souvenir from this kayaking.

2. How did the narrator feel during the whale encounter?

A．Terrified and panicked.	B．Disoriented underwater
C．Calm and focused.	D．Regretful about going kayaking.

3. The underlined word “ordeal” in Paragraph 5 probably means____.

A．a challenging or difficult experience	B．a thrilling experience
C．a surprising encounter	D．a joyful adventure

4. What would be the best title of this passage?

A．How to Survive a Whale Attack	B．Respecting the Power of Nature
C．A Day at San Luis Obispo Beach	D．I Survived Being Swallowed By a Whale

4 . In the dim light of an early autumn evening, Alexander, a hunter: known as much for his solitude as for his skill, ventured into the untamed (原始的) heart of the jungle. Each step he took was measured and careful, a respect for the ancient wilderness where every breath was a story, and man was but a fleeting shadow.

For years, whispers of a tiger, not just any tiger but one whose fur caught the last rays of the sun, had reached Alexander. A creature so splendid and fearsome, it was said to be more myth than flesh. On this day, as the shadows lengthened and the jungle whispered its age-old secrets, Alexander sought not just the tiger, but a confrontation with the very essence of the wild itself. As dusk settled, painting the world in colors of gold and shadow, the boundary between predator and prey seemed to dissolve. The air was heavy with anticipation, the kind that precedes storms and stories.

Then, in a clearing where the jungle seemed to hold its breath, the tiger appeared. It was as if the sun had woven itself into the fabric of its being, its fur a blend of flame and night. For a moment, the world shrank to the space between the hunter named Alexander and the legend made flesh before him.

Their gazes locked, a silent understanding passing between man and beast. Here was Alexander, a man who had walked through shadows to stand in the light of a legend, and the tiger, an embodiment of the wild’s untouchable majesty. In that eternal moment, Alexander saw not a prey but a sovereign of nature, a being whose right to wander the dusk was as undeniable as the setting sun.

With a respect born of countless sunsets and the silent tales they told, Alexander slowly lowered his rifle (步枪). The act was not one of defeat but of profound respect-a recognition of the bond that ties every living thing to the pulse of the earth. The tiger, its gaze still locked with Alexander’s, seemed to acknowledge this unspoken pact. Then, it turned and melted into the shadows, leaving behind a trail of twilight.

Alexander left the jungle that night without a trophy (战利品), but his soul was alight with a tale of fire and twilight. He had sought a legend and found a truth far greater: in the wild’s heart, where shadows and light dance, there lies a respect so deep it transcends the hunt. This encounter, a dance with the untamed, would echo in Alexander’s heart long after the jungle’s whispers faded into the dawn.

1. What was Alexander’s primary reason for venturing into the jungle?

A．To find a place to set up camp.

B．To hunt a tiger rumored to have a fur like the setting sun.

C．To escape from the challenges of modern life.

D．To meet other hunters and share stories.

2. What decision does Alexander make when he finally encounters the tiger?

A．He captures the tiger to prove its existence.

B．He shoots the tiger to claim his trophy.

C．He attempts to trap the tiger but fails

D．He lowers his rifle, choosing not to shoot the tiger.

3. The author’s writing style reflects Hemingway’s influence through ________.

A．complex language.	B．long sentences.
C．straightforward storytelling.	D．supernatural focus.

4. What theme is most prominently reflected in Alexander’s encounter with the tiger?

A．The thrill of the hunt is unparalleled.

B．True courage is demonstrated through dominance over nature.

C．There is a profound respect that exists between man and nature.

D．Technology has distanced man from understanding the natural world.

5 . Nature’s Gigantic Snow Plough

On January 10, 1962, an enormous piece of glacier broke away and collapsed down the side of a mountain in Peru. A mere seven minutes later, when cascading ice finally came to a stop ten miles down the mountain, it had taken the lives of 4,000 people. This disaster is one of the most “destructive” examples of a very common event: an avalanche (雪崩) of snow or ice. Because it is extremely cold at very high altitudes, snow rarely melts.     1     Glaciers are eventually created when the weight of the snow is so great that the lower layers are pressed into solid ice.     2     As snow accumulates on a steep slope, it reaches a critical point at which the slightest vibration will send it sliding into the valley below.

Even an avalanche of light power can be dangerous, but the Peruvian disaster was particularly terrible because it was caused by a heavy layer of ice.     3     As it crashed down the steep mountainside like a gigantic snow plough, it swept up trees, boulders and tons of topsoil, and completely crushed and destroyed the six villages that lay in its path.

At present there is no way to predict or avoid such enormous avalanches, but luckily, they are very rare.     4     In the future, perhaps dangerous masses of snow and ice can be found and removed before they take human lives?

A．It is estimated that the ice that broke off weighed three million tons.

B．It just keeps piling up higher and higher.

C．Scientists are constantly studying the smaller, more common avalanches, to try to understand what causes them.

D．An extremely rare snow and ice disaster hit the south area of China in January, 2008, seriously influencing people’s production and life.

E．But most avalanches occur long before this happens.

F．This year’s snow and ice disaster has caused great harm to power network.

6 . The HISTORY Channel series Alone drops contestants into some of the planet’s most punishing environments, with a bare minimum of clothing, safety and survival gear. In their battle against the elements, contestants are forced to use their fitness, their courage and their creativity to become true survivalists.

Few people choose to be thrown into such extreme situations, but those who do have usually stumbled into some immense bad luck. Just check out one of the famous real-life survival stories:

Mauro Prosperi is an Italian police officer who gained worldwide fame after getting lost in the Sahara Desert in 1994. A keen athlete and long-distance runner, Mauro took part in the 1994 Marathon of the Sands in Morocco, a six-day-long endurance race in one of the driest and barren environments on the planet.

During the race, a sandstorm caused Prosperi, then 39 years old, married and father to three children, to become disoriented. One day after going off track, he found himself in an abandoned Muslim temple in Algeria. In order to survive, he killed and ate bats. For liquid, he was forced to drink his own waste, lick dew off of rocks and suck moisture out of his wet wipes.

Assuming he would never be found, he cut his wrists with a pen knife from his supplies. However, it was such a dry heat that the wounds thickened and concreted, and he was forced to go back into the desert and attempt to find help.

For nine days he walked through the desert and ate insects and cold-blooded animals. Finally, he found a small village. From there he was flown to a hospital, where doctors said his liver had almost completely failed.

Having traveled 180 miles in all, Prosperi lost 35 pounds in body weight during his severe suffering in the desert; it took several months before he could eat solid food again. But he has remained an enthusiastic runner and even returned and completed the race in 2012.

1. Prosperi have to discontinue the Marathon of the Sands because ______.

A．his supplies were running out

B．his children didn’t want to lose him

C．he lost his way for the bad weather

D．he couldn’t tolerate the extreme heat

2. What caused Mauro Prosperi to head back to the desert for help?

A．His intention to heal the wound.	B．His failure to take away his own life.
C．His decreasing interest in food sources.	D．His discomfort with the temple environment.

3. According to the passage, what can be inferred about Mauro Prosperi’s experience?

A．He found an alternative source of water in a traditional way.

B．He demonstrated the determination to survive all the way through.

C．His story was a proof of the worsening relationship between man and nature.

D．His eventual return to the race signified his persistence.

4. What is the primary purpose of the passage?

A．To entertain readers with an awe-inspiring fictional adventure story.

B．To educate readers about the possible dangers of punishing environments.

C．To inspire readers with human’s ability to survive the extreme challenges.

D．To remind readers of the value of essential survival skills and preparedness.

7 . Hanwengong Shrine

Now we come to Hanwengong Shrine, which is beside Hangjiang river and west of Bijia mountain.     1     In the square in front of the hall, an ancient book-shaped stone is carved with two famous sayings of Han Yu on it, meaning hard work is the precondition for success, and deep thought is the guarantee of success.

In the year of A.D. 819, for some political reason, Han Yu was exiled (流放) to Chaozhou, a backland at that time. But he was not depressed by this, and he helped local people to develop education, agriculture, irrigation and release slaves.     2    

The shrine was built against the mountain and divided into two parts, the front part and the back part. Now we play a small game: count the stone steps, and later I’ll tell you a secret. How many steps are there? Yes, 51 steps! Why?     3     The first time Han Yu came to Chaozhou, he was impressed by the beautiful scenery and hospitality of local people. You see that old tree? People say the more flowers in the tree, the more well-educated students are. But in Qing Dynasty, this magic tree, planted by Han Yu himself, died, so people planted this tree instead.

    4     Here is one: when Han Yu was living in Chaozhou, there was a very fierce and cruel crocodile in the Hanjiang river, which was a big social harm. One day, Han Yu drafted a statement against the crocodile and made it public by the river. Incredibly, from the next day on, the crocodile was gone. Later, the statue, made of a portrait of Han Yu, was built and his words were left on the monument to mark his achievements.

A．When Han Yu came to Chaozhou, he was 51 years old.

B．Han Yu was a Confucian figure, and there are many stories about him in Chaozhou.

C．Although Han Yu’s ideas had no obvious practical effect at the time, they had a great impact on society decades later.

D．Built in the Song dynasty, the shrine is the oldest and best preserved monument to Han Yu, one of the greatest literary men in the Tang dynasty.

E．To memorize what he had contributed to the development of Chaozhou, people constructed this shrine and named him Hanwengong respectfully.

F．There are so many tourists that, to relieve the pressure on the monuments, the scenic spot requires that a maximum of 500 people visit at a time.

8 . Antarctic Tourism: Should We Just Say No?

More people are visiting Antarctic, the frozen continent than ever before.     1     This has brought a new urgency to the question of how much, if any, tourism should be allowed on the icy continent.

The distance most visitors travel to reach Antarctica makes carbon emissions a serious problem.     2     One study calculated that each tourist between 2016 and 2020 was effectively melting around 83 tonnes of snow, due largely to emissions from vacation ships.

    3     The Antarctic Treaty, established in 1961 to provide governance for the continent, operates on a consultative basis, which means all 56 parties have to agree before a change can be put into action. The last major decision on tourism was a measure passed in 2009 that prohibits vacation ships carrying more than 500 passengers from making landings. That regulation has still not officially been carried out as not every signatory country has accepted it domestically.

There is clear agreement that something needs to change, but no agreement on what those changes should be.     4    

A．The number of visitors hit 100,000 for the first time this tourist season, a 40% jump over the previous record.

B．The Antarctic is at risk not just because of the breakability of its environment, but due to the lack of a single governing body.

C．Should landings be made at a larger number of sites for instance, or should we aim to keep the human footprint as small as possible?

D．If what you really want is to connect with snow and ice and you’re in the northern half, can you catch a train to the nearest snow region instead?

E．The average per-person carbon emissions for an Antarctic tourist are 3.76 tonnes – about the total sum that an individual typically generates in an entire year.

F．There is so little regulation now that almost anything that will protect the areas by an official legal source rather than self-regulated would be really positive.

9 . My son, Ben, died when he was 23. The year after his death, I hiked 48 of the state’s tallest mountains in his memory. Every step, path and peak has been a way to restore.

About a month after his death, my husband and I hiked Carter Dome and Mount Hight, sorrow weighing heavy in our hearts and legs. Standing on the peak, I looked out across the mountains my son loved. For a moment, the heavy blow brought about by Ben’s death faded into the timeless expanse, and I could breathe.

The next weekend found us on Mount Moosilauke. Then Mount Cannon, Mount Flume, Mount Liberty and so on. It was a series of firsts, of struggles and overcoming them — climbing at night, climbing slides and rocks, camping alone, finding paths and planning routes.

Six days before the anniversary of Ben’s death, I hiked my 48^th and final peak: Mount Carrigain. As I stood on the observation platform at the peak, I found the essential truth I had been grasping to express for months: The only place that feels vast enough to hold sorrow this deep and wide is the top of a mountain, looking out into forever.

These days, I hike not to hide, but to seek. I find Ben, but I also find myself: someone broken, now braver and more capable. The forced isolation of sorrow becomes the welcome loneliness of the path; the peace of nature replaces the pain of loss. Hiking is both exhausting and exciting, and it teaches us that sorrow and joy can coexist.

But there’s another, possibly more important truth: A hike is not the only way to find the peace of the natural world; a simple walk along a park path can have a similar effect. The internal journey of sorrow mixes with our steps, and we find comfort along the way.

1. How did the writer feel after climbing Carter Dome and Mount Hight?

A．Doubtful.

B．Relieved.

C．Sad.

D．Terrified.

2. After hiking the 48 peaks, the writer learned that __________.

A．it was possible to live with both sorrow and joy

B．it was the isolation of sorrow that exhausted her

C．only by overcoming struggles could one survive

D．the peaks were proper places to remember someone

3. What does the writer imply in the last paragraph?

A．Walking works best for those in sorrow.	B．We can plan our internal journey as intended.
C．What counts is to make peace with ourselves.	D．People tend to hike in parks to seek comfort.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．The Heavy Steps That Led Me To Peaks	B．The Mountains That Held My Sorrow
C．The Journeys That Frustrated Me	D．The First Struggles That Empowered Me

10 . The emergence of black holes undoubtedly marks the beginning of a revolution. Black holes have many peculiar properties, such as the alteration of space and time, the radiation of gravitational waves and so on. Scientists are still trying to study the properties and evolution of black holes in order to better understand the origin and evolution of the universe.

Recently, a team of astronomers may have found a solo-wandering black hole using a strange trick of gravity called microlensing (微透镜效应), but the results still have to be confirmed.

Sometimes it’s tough being an astronomer. Nature likes to hide the most interesting things from easy observation. Take, for example, black holes. Except for the strange quantum (量子) phenomenon of Hawking radiation, black holes are completely black. They don’t emit a single bit of radiation – they only absorb, hence their name.

To date, the only way astronomers have been able to spot black holes is through their influence on their environments. For example, if an orbiting star gets a little too close, the black hole can absorb the gas from that star, causing it to heat up as it falls. We can watch as stars dance around the giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

Even the famed pictures of the black holes in the center of the Milky Way and the M87 galaxy(星系) aren’t photographs of the black holes themselves. Instead, they are radio images of everything around them.

But surely not all black holes have other light-emitting objects around them to help us find them. To find these wanderers, astronomers have tried their luck with microlensing. We know that heavy objects can bend the path of light around them. This is a prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and the slight bending of starlight around our own sun was one of the first successful tests of the theory.

Microlensing is pretty much what the name suggests. When astronomers get extremely lucky, a wandering black hole and pass between us and a random distant star. The light from that star bends around the black hole because of its gravity, and from our point of view, the star will appear to temporarily flare in brightness.

And when I say “extremely lucky” I mean it. Despite trying this technique for over a decade, it is only now that astronomers have found a candidate black hole through microlensing. Two teams used the same data, a microlensing event recorded from both the OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) telescope in Chile and the MOA (Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics) telescope in New Zealand. One team found that the mass was somewhere around seven times the mass of the sun – definitely black hole territory. But the other team estimated a much smaller mass, around 2-4 times the mass of the Sun. If the true mass of the object is at the lower end of that spectrum (光谱), then the wanderer is probably not a black hole.

1. Why does the author say it is hard to be an astronomer?

A．Einstein’s theory is hard to understand.

B．Many things in nature are not easy to observe.

C．Understanding the evolution of the universe is not easy.

D．Whether the black hole has been found remains to be seen.

2. What is the example in Para. 4 trying to prove?

A．Stars’ wandering in black holes.

B．Black holes’ absorbing the star’s gas.

C．The relationship between stars’ heating and black holes.

D．Finding black holes by observing environmental changes.

3. What does the author tell us about the discovery of black holes?

A．People can often find black holes with glowing objects.

B．Research groups can work together to find black holes.

C．Glowing objects around black holes help us find them sometimes.

D．Understanding the properties of black holes helps find them.

4. What conclusion can we draw from the last paragraph?

A．To persevere in the end is to win.

B．Facts speak louder than words.

C．Failure is the mother of success.

D．Things are not always what they seem.