1 . When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.

After studying agriculture, medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.

The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First, he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.

He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.

Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.

“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”

1. What can we learn about John from the first two paragraphs?

A．He was fond of traveling.	B．He enjoyed being alone.
C．He had an inquiring mind.	D．He longed to be a doctor.

2. Why did John put the sludge into the tanks?

A．To feed the animals.	B．To build an ecosystem.
C．To protect the plants.	D．To test the eco-machine.

3. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning Fuzhou?

A．To review John’s research plans.	B．To show an application of John’s idea.
C．To compare John’s different jobs.	D．To erase doubts about John’s invention.

4. What is the basis for John’s work?

A．Nature can repair itself.	B．Organisms need water to survive.
C．Life on Earth is diverse.	D．Most tiny creatures live in groups.

2 . As cities balloon with growth, access to nature for people living in urban areas is becoming harder to find. If you’re lucky, there might be a pocket park near where you live, but it’s unusual to find places in a city that are relatively wild.

Past research has found health and wellness benefits of nature for humans, but a new study shows that wildness in urban areas is extremely important for human well-being.

The research team focused on a large urban park. They surveyed several hundred park-goers, asking them to submit a written summary online of a meaningful interaction they had with nature in the park. The researchers then examined these submissions, coding (编码) experiences into different categories. For example, one participant’s experience of “We sat and listened to the waves at the beach for a while” was assigned the categories “sitting at beach” and “listening to waves.”

Across the 320 submissions, a pattern of categories the researchers call a “nature language” began to emerge. After the coding of all submissions, half a dozen categories were noted most often as important to visitors. These include encountering wildlife, walking along the edge of water, and following an established trail.

Naming each nature experience creates a usable language, which helps people recognize and take part in the activities that are most satisfying and meaningful to them. For example, the experience of walking along the edge of water might be satisfying for a young professional on a weekend hike in the park. Back downtown during a workday, they can enjoy a more domestic form of this interaction by walking along a fountain on their lunch break.

“We’re trying to generate a language that helps bring the human-nature interactions back into our daily lives. And for that to happen, we also need to protect nature so that we can interact with it,” said Peter Kahn, a senior author of the study.

1. What phenomenon does the author describe at the beginning of the text?

A．Pocket parks are now popular.	B．Wild nature is hard to find in cities.
C．Many cities are overpopulated.	D．People enjoy living close to nature.

2. Why did the researchers code participant submissions into categories?

A．To compare different types of park-goers.	B．To explain why the park attracts tourists.
C．To analyze the main features of the park.	D．To find patterns in the visitors’ summaries.

3. What can we learn from the example given in paragraph 5?

A．Walking is the best way to gain access to nature.

B．Young people are too busy to interact with nature.

C．The same nature experience takes different forms.

D．The nature language enhances work performance.

4. What should be done before we can interact with nature according to Kahn?

A．Language study.	B．Environmental conservation.
C．Public education.	D．Intercultural communication.

3 . According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the number of solar panels installed(安装)has grown rapidly in the past decade, and it has to grow even faster to meet climate goals. But all of that growth will take up a lot of space, and though more and more people accept the concept of solar energy, few like large solar panels to be installed near them.

Solar developers want to put up panels as quickly and cheaply as possible, so they haven’t given much thought to what they put under them. Often, they’ll end up filling the area with small stones and using chemicals to control weeds. The result is that many communities, especially in farming regions, see solar farms as destroyers of the soil.

“Solar projects need to be good neighbors,” says Jordan Macknick, the head of the Innovative Site Preparation and Impact Reductions on the Environment(InSPIRE)project. “They need to be protectors of the land and contribute to the agricultural economy.” InSPIRE is investigating practical approaches to “low-impact” solar development, which focuses on establishing and operating solar farms in a way that is kinder to the land. One of the easiest low-impact solar strategies is providing habitat for pollinators(传粉昆虫).

Habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change have caused dramatic declines in pollinator populations over the past couple of decades, which has damaged the U.S. agricultural economy. Over 28 states have passed laws related to pollinator habitat protection and pesticide use. Conservation organizations put out pollinator-friendliness guidelines for home gardens, businesses, schools, cities—and now there are guidelines for solar farms.

Over the past few years, many solar farm developers have transformed the space under their solar panels into a shelter for various kinds of pollinators, resulting in soil improvement and carbon reduction. “These pollinator-friendly solar farms can have a valuable impact on everything that’s going on in the landscape,” says Macknick.

1. What do solar developers often ignore?

A．The decline in the demand for solar energy.

B．The negative impact of installing solar panels.

C．The rising labor cost of building solar farms.

D．The most recent advances in solar technology.

2. What does InSPIRE aim to do?

A．Improve the productivity of local farms.

B．Invent new methods for controlling weeds.

C．Make solar projects environmentally friendly.

D．Promote the use of solar energy in rural areas.

3. What is the purpose of the laws mentioned in paragraph 4?

A．To conserve pollinators.	B．To restrict solar development.
C．To diversify the economy.	D．To ensure the supply of energy.

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

A．Pollinators: To Leave or to Stay	B．Solar Energy: Hope for the Future
C．InSPIRE: A Leader in Agriculture	D．Solar Farms: A New Development

4 . The sun was beginning to sink as I set off into the Harenna Forest. I was on my way to _________ a unique honey harvest. Here, in south-east Ethiopia, hand-carved beehives(蜂箱)are placed in the _________. Reaching them to get the honey is difficult—and often _________ .

I _________ beekeeper Ziyad over a wide stretch of grassland before entering a thick jungle. Ziyad began preparations. He _________ handfuls of damp tree leaves, wrapped them with string, and _________ the bunch to create a torch(火把). Then, with one end of a rope tied to his waist and the other end around the trunk of a tree, Ziyad began _________ . He stopped every few minutes to move the _________ higher up the tree trunk.

_________ , Ziyad got close to the hive which was around 20 metres above the ground. Sitting on a branch, he __________ towards it and blew smoke from his torch into a tiny hole in the hive. Suddenly, Ziyad let out a sharp cry. Within seconds, he’d __________ the trunk and was back on the ground.

It was too __________ to collect the honey. A cool summer had delayed __________ . Baby bees were still in the honeycombs(蜂巢). The adult bees were __________ and kept attacking as Ziyad escaped from the tree. He had to wait for the right __________ to go back up.

1.

A．share

B．collect

C．celebrate

D．witness

2.

A．courtyards

B．fields

C．treetops

D．caves

3.

A．urgent

B．dangerous

C．expensive

D．pointless

4.

A．searched

B．recognised

C．followed

D．invited

5.

A．gathered

B．cleaned

C．dropped

D．checked

6.

A．shook

B．lit

C．measured

D．decorated

7.

A．jumping

B．talking

C．testing

D．climbing

8.

A．hives

B．leaves

C．rope

D．honey

9.

A．Finally

B．Surprisingly

C．Naturally

D．Immediately

10.

A．backed

B．dived

C．shouted

D．inched

11.

A．cut off

B．gone up

C．slid down

D．held onto

12.

A．high

B．early

C．fast

D．close

13.

A．hatching

B．training

C．sowing

D．trading

14.

A．curious

B．hungry

C．bored

D．angry

15.

A．moment

B．equipment

C．person

D．order

5 . Grizzly bears, which may grow to about 2.5 m long and weigh over 400 kg, occupy a conflicted corner of the American psyche — we revere (敬畏) them even as they give us frightening dreams. Ask the tourists from around the world that flood into Yellowstone National Park what they most hope to see, and their answer is often the same: a grizzly bear.

“Grizzly bears are re-occupying large areas of their former range,” says bear biologist Chris Servheen. As grizzly bears expand their range into places where they haven’t been seen in a century or more, they’re increasingly being sighted by humans.

The western half of the US was full of grizzlies when Europeans came, with a rough number of 50,000 or more living alongside Native Americans. By the early 1970s, after centuries of cruel and continuous hunting by settlers, 600 to 800 grizzlies remained on a mere 2 percent of their former range in the Northern Rockies. In 1975, grizzlies were listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Today, there are about 2,000 or more grizzly bears in the US. Their recovery has been so successful that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has twice attempted to delist grizzlies, which would loosen legal protections and allow them to be hunted. Both efforts were overturned due to lawsuits from conservation groups. For now, grizzlies remain listed.

Obviously, if precautions (预防) aren’t taken, grizzlies can become troublesome, sometimes killing farm animals or walking through yards in search of food. If people remove food and attractants from their yards and campsites, grizzlies will typically pass by without trouble. Putting electric fencing around chicken houses and other farm animal quarters is also highly effective at getting grizzlies away. “Our hope is to have a clean, attractant-free place where bears can pass through without learning bad habits,” says James Jonkel, longtime biologist who manages bears in and around Missoula.

1. How do Americans look at grizzlies?

A．They cause mixed feelings in people.

B．They should be kept in national parks.

C．They are of high scientific value.

D．They are a symbol of American culture.

2. What has helped the increase of the grizzly population?

A．The European settlers’ behavior.

B．The expansion of bears’ range.

C．The protection by law since 1975.

D．The support of Native Americans.

3. What has stopped the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service from delisting grizzlies?

A．The opposition of conservation groups.

B．The successful comeback of grizzlies.

C．The voice of the biologists.

D．The local farmers’ advocates.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．Food should be provided for grizzlies.

B．People can live in harmony with grizzlies.

C．A special path should be built for grizzlies.

D．Technology can be introduced to protect grizzlies.

6 . Indoor plants might look as if they just sit around not doing much, but in many ways they are the unsung heroes of the home.     1    , but studies have shown that they can promote people’s wellbeing by improving their mood (心情), reducing stress and helping their memory. What’s more, indoor plants are easy to look after and are not very expensive.

What are indoor plants?

Indoor plants, also known as houseplants or pot plants, are plants that like to grow indoors. Many of these species (物种) are not ideally suited to growing outside in the UK, especially in the winter.     2    .

Why are indoor plants good for you?

Will Spoelstra, who works at the Royal Botanic Gardens, says, “    3    . I find during the winter months, plants around the house can really lift your mood.” Several studies have backed this up and found that indoor plants can improve creativity, focus and memory. There is also research showing that pot plants can clean the air around them by removing harmful gases, such as carbon dioxide. They also remove some harmful chemicals from paints or cooking.     4    .

Which plants can you grow?

Aloe vera, peace lilies and spider plants are some of the species that are easy to grow indoors. You can buy plants from supermarkets, garden centres or online. Younger plants are often cheaper than fully grown ones, and you get to care for them as they mature — which is part of the joy of owning plants. “    5    ,” Spoelstra says. “It can bring a new interest and focus into people’s lives and help to make the link between home and nature.”

A．All plants are different

B．Not only do they look beautiful

C．There are many benefits to growing plants indoors

D．Instead, they grow better inside, where it is warmer

E．Plants like peace lilies and devil’s ivy are among the best

F．Changing the pot of your plant from time to time will also help

G．Learning about the requirements of each plant can be very rewarding

7 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

I was invited to a cookout on an old friend’s farm in western Washington. I parked my car outside the farm and walked past a milking house which had apparently not been used in many years. A noise at a window caught my attention, so I entered it. It was a hummingbird (蜂鸟), desperately trying to escape. She was covered in spider-webs (蛛网) and was barely able to move her wings. She ceased her struggle the instant I picked her up.

With the bird in my cupped hand, I looked around to see how she had gotten in. The broken window glass was the likely answer. I stuffed a piece of cloth into the hole and took her outside, closing the door securely behind me.

When I opened my hand, the bird did not fly away; she sat looking at me with her bright eyes. I removed the sticky spider-webs that covered her head and wings. Still, she made no attempt to fly. Perhaps she had been struggling against the window too long and was too tired? Or too thirsty?

As I carried her up the blackberry-lined path toward my car where I kept a water bottle, she began to move. I stopped, and she soon took wing but did not immediately fly away.

Hovering (悬停), she approached within six inches of my face. For a very long moment, this tiny creature looked into my eyes, turning her head from side to side. Then she flew quickly out of sight.

During the cookout, I told my hosts about the hummingbird incident. They promised to fix the window. As I was departing, my friends walked me to my car. I was standing by the car when a hummingbird flew to the center of our group and began hovering. She turned from person to person until she came to me. She again looked directly into my eyes, then let out a squeaking call and was gone. For a moment, all were speechless. Then someone said, “She must have come to say goodbye.”

注意：
1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。

A few weeks later, I went to the farm again.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I was just about to leave when the hummingbird appeared.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 . 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。

Going to Mount Huangshan reminds me of the popular Beatles’ song “The Long and Winding Road”.     1     is so breathtaking about the experience is the out-of-this-world scenes. The rolling sea of clouds you see once you are at the top will remind you how tiny we     2     (human) are.

The hot spring at the foot of the mountain is something you must try after the climb. It will     3    (undoubted) help you get refreshed! The amazing thing about the spring is that the colder the temperature gets, the     4     (hot) the spring! Strange, isn’t it? But that’s how nature is — always leaving us     5     (astonish).

What comes next is the endless series of steps. You can’t help wondering how hard it     6     (be) for the people then to put all those rocks into place. Though it is the only unnatural thing on your way up the mountain, still it highlights the whole adventure     7    offers a place where you can sit down to rest your     8     (ache) legs.

As the song goes, this long and winding road “will never disappear”, and it will always stick in the visitor’s memory. It sure does in     9     (I). While you’re in China, Mount Huangshan is     10     must to visit!

9 . Live with roommates? Have friends and family around you? Chances are that if you’re looking to live a more sustainable lifestyle, not everyone around you will be ready to jump on that bandwagon.

I experienced this when I started switching to a zero waste lifestyle five years ago, as I was living with my parents, and I continue to experience this with my husband, as he is not completely zero waste like me. I’ve learned a few things along the way though, which I hope you’ll find encouraging if you’re doing your best to figure out how you can make the change in a not-always-supportive household.

Zero waste was a radical lifestyle movement a few years back. I remember showing my parents a video of Bea Johnson, sharing how cool I thought it would be to buy groceries with jars, and have so little trash! A few days later, I came back with my first jars of zero waste groceries, and my dad commented on how silly it was for me to carry jars everywhere. It came off as a bit discouraging.

Yet as the months of reducing waste continued, I did what I could that was within my own reach. I had my own bedroom, so I worked on removing things I didn’t need. Since I had my own toiletries (洗漱用品), I was able to start personalising my routine to be more sustainable. I also offered to cook every so often, so I portioned out a bit of the cupboard for my own zero waste groceries. Perhaps your household won’t entirely make the switch, but you may have some control over your own personal spaces to make the changes you desire.

As you make your lifestyle changes, you may find yourself wanting to speak up for yourself if others comment on what you’re doing, which can turn itself into a whole household debate. If you have individuals who are not on board, your words probably won’t do much and can often leave you feeling more discouraged.

So here is my advice: Lead by action.

1. What do the underlined words “jump on that bandwagon” mean in the first paragraph?

A．Share an apartment with you.	B．Join you in what you’re doing.
C．Transform your way of living.	D．Help you to make the decision.

2. What was the attitude of the author’s father toward buying groceries with jars?

A．He disapproved of it.	B．He was favorable to it.
C．He was tolerant of it.	D．He didn’t care about it.

3. What can we infer about the author?

A．She is quite good at cooking.	B．She respects others’ privacy.
C．She enjoys being a housewife.	D．She is a determined person.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．How to get on well with other family members.

B．How to have one’s own personal space at home.

C．How to live a zero waste lifestyle in a household.

D．How to control the budget when buying groceries.

10 . 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.

In 1934, with the passage of the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (Act), an increasingly concerned nation took firm action to stop the destruction of migratory (迁徙的) waterfowl and the wetlands so vital to their survival. Under this Act, all waterfowl hunters 16 years of age and over must annually purchase and carry a Federal Duck Stamp. The very first Federal Duck Stamp was designed by J.N. “Ding” Darling, a political cartoonist from Des Moines, lowa, who at that time was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as Director of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Hunters willingly pay the stamp price to ensure the survival of our natural resources.

About 98 cents of every duck stamp dollar goes directly into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to purchase wetlands and wildlife habitat for inclusion into the National Wildlife Refuge System — a fact that ensures this land will be protected and available for all generations to come. Since 1934, better than half a billion dollars has gone into that Fund to purchase more than 5 million acres of habitat. Little wonder the Federal Duck Stamp Program has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated.

1. What was a cause of the waterfowl population decline in North America?

A．Loss of wetlands.	B．Popularity of water sports.
C．Pollution of rivers.	D．Arrival of other wild animals.

2. What does the underlined word “decimate” mean in the first paragraph?

A．Acquire.	B．Export.
C．Destroy.	D．Distribute.

3. What is a direct result of the Act passed in 1934?

A．The stamp price has gone down.	B．The migratory birds have flown away.
C．The hunters have stopped hunting.	D．The government has collected money.

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

A．The Federal Duck Stamp Story	B．The National Wildlife Refuge System
C．The Benefits of Saving Waterfowl	D．The History of Migratory Bird Hunting