1 . When the explorers first set foot upon the continent of North America, the skies and lands were alive with an astonishing variety of wildlife. Native Americans had taken care of these precious natural resources wisely. Unfortunately, it took the explorers and the settlers who followed only a few decades to decimate a large part of these resources. Millions of waterfowl ( 水 禽 ) were killed at the hands of market hunters and a handful of overly ambitious sportsmen. Millions of acres of wetlands were dried to feed and house the ever-increasing populations, greatly reducing waterfowl habitat.
What does the underlined word “decimate” mean in the first paragraph?
| A．Acquire. | B．Export. |
| C．Destroy. | D．Distribute. |
A. The shy animals are attracted and coming around the equipment so that they can be watched by researchers and carefully protected by human beings.
B. In the Northeast, China, wolverines (貂熊) are being studied by scientists in an effort to learn how to protect the population by videoing the animals’ daily activities.
C. We all know that it’s of great importance for mankind to protect nature and wildlife. It may seem that protecting wildlife is something far from the life of a high school student, but in fact, a lot have been done by young people around the world.
D. However, during the winter it is difficult to attract the animals to cameras hidden in snowy forests because these animals are too shy to be found.
E. A group of high school students heard about the problem and created a special device which has been tested deep in a snowy forest. Their invention is able to send out a certain smell near the cameras.
3 . The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.
What is the second paragraph mainly about?
| A．The seriousness of big-tree loss in California. |
| B．The increasing variety of California big trees. |
| C．The distribution of big trees in California forests. |
| D．The influence of farming on big trees in California. |
4 . After more than a year, the two bears returned to the wild. “Not a lot of agencies have the funding to do this kind of work. We hope to leave the state of Washington with better bear management than when we arrived,” said Rich Beausoleil, WDFW biologist. “We’ve found our public here in Washington appreciate that we go the extra miles and give these orphaned bears a second shot at life.”
What is the public’s attitude to freeing the two orphaned bears?
| A．Unclear. | B．Doubtful. | C．Intolerant. | D．Favorable. |
5 . At this point, it is not clear why dogs seem to be equipped with the ability to recognize different facial expressions in humans. "To us, the most likely explanation appears to be that the basis lies in their living with humans, which gives them a lot of exposure to human facial expressions," and this exposure has provided them with many chances to learn to distinguish between them, Muller said.
What is the last paragraph mainly about?
| A．A suggestion for future studies. | B．A possible reason for the study findings. |
| C．A major limitation of the study | D．An explanation of the research method. |
6 . If you ever get the impression that your dog can "tell" whether you look content or annoyed, you may be onto something. Dogs may indeed be able to distinguish between happy and angry human faces, according to a new study
Researchers trained a group of 11 dogs to distinguish between images（图像）of the same person making either a happy or an angry face. During the training stage, each dog was shown only the upper half or the lower half of the person's face. The researchers then tested the dogs' ability to distinguish between human facial expressions by showing them the other half of the person's face on images totally different from the ones used in training. The researchers found that the dogs were able to pick the angry or happy face by touching a picture of it with their noses more often than one would expect by random chance.
The new study focused on whether dogs can_________.
| A．distinguish shapes | B．make sense of human faces |
| C．feel happy or angry | D．communicate with each other |
7 . With bushfires continuing to swallow different parts of Australia, a local zoo in New South Wales—the state which is the easiest to catch fire—has hit the headlines with a heartwarming story.
Right in the line of a bushfire, the keepers of Mogo Wildlife Park managed to protect all 200 animals from harm after they received evacuation orders, according to reports.
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．The Heroic Job. | B．The Horrific Fire. |
| C．The Extinct Animals. | D．The Brave Zoo Keeper. |
8 . The problems of excessive energy consumption, climate change and population growth have been described in a book by the American writer Thomas L. Friedman. He fears the worst, but hopes for the best.
Friedman points out that the green economy is a chance to keep American strength. “The ability to design, build and export green technologies for producing clean water, clean air and healthy and abundant food is going to be the currency of power in the new century.”
What is Friedman’s attitude towards America’s future?
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Doubtful. | C．Hopeful. | D．Tolerant |
9 . In the world of water, 2021 was another year for the record books. Parts of Western Europe suffered from deadly floods while large areas of the southwestern United States remained locked in a massive drought.
…
The Netherlands avoided major damage from the historic floods in July 2021 thanks to its recently completed project, which gives river room to spread out by redirecting floodwaters into wetlands, lowering parts of the stormy river by more than a foot. Agricultural practices offer another strategy. Scientists have found that boosting organic matter in the soil by 1% can increase the soil’s water-holding capacity by up to18,000 gallons per acre, creating flexibility to both intense rains and dry periods. This means farmland practices such as the planting of cover crops cannot only raise output but improve water management.
Solutions don’t come easily, but they are key to a livable future. While it’s too late to avoid the impacts of climate change, we can avoid the worst of those impacts by investing more in such nature-based water solutions.
What can be a suitable title for the text?
| A．Water disaster: way out of control |
| B．Investment in water: a key to the future |
| C．Nature-based solution: a way out for water |
| D．Good news: farming practices working well |
10 . Oxygen is vital to life; it is needed by the body cells of all animals. It is also very useful in industry. The method Priestley used produces only small quantities. The large amounts needed for industry are produced in a different way. Air is put into containers under great pressure. This turns it into liquid and makes it very cold. It is then gradually warmed up and each substance evaporates at a different temperature. The boiling point of oxygen is -183°C. It is caught and stored in strong steel cylinders at a pressure of 136 atmospheres. The process is known as fractional distillation.
Q: Which word has the rough meaning of “vital”?
| A．Important. | B．Useful. | C．Helpful. | D．Interesting. |
