1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

How Do Avalanches Happen

If you’re ever skiing in the mountains, you’ll want to be aware of avalanches. An avalanche is a sudden flow of snow down a slope, such as a mountain. The amount of snow in an avalanche     1     (vary) based on many things, but it can be such a huge amount that it can bury the bottom of a slope in dozens of feet of snow.

Avalanches     2     be caused by natural things. For example, new snow or rain can cause built-up snow to loosen and fall down the side of a mountain. Artificial triggers（诱发因素）can also cause avalanches. For example, snowmobiles, skiers, and explosives     3     (know) to lead to avalanches.

Avalanches   usually occur   during the   winter   and spring,     4     snowfall   is   greatest.   As they are dangerous to any living beings in their path, avalanches have destroyed forests, roads, railroads and even entire towns. Warning signs exist that allow experts to predict -- and often prevent -- avalanches from     5    

   (occur). When over a foot of fresh snow falls, experts know to be on the lookout for avalanches. Explosives can be used in places     6     massive snow buildups to trigger much smaller avalanches that don’t     pose a danger to persons or property.

When deadly avalanches do occur, the moving snow can quickly reach over 80 miles per hour. Skiers caught in such avalanches can be buried under dozens of feet of snow.     7     it’s   possible to dig out   of such avalanches, not all are able to escape.

If you get tossed about by an avalanche and find yourself     8     (bury) under many feet of snow, you might not have a true sense of which way is up and which way is down. Some avalanche victims have tried to dig their way out, only to find that they were upside down and digging     9     farther under the snow rather than to the top!

Experts suggest that people caught in an avalanche try to dig around   you     10     (create) a space for air, so you can breathe more easily. Then, do your best to figure out which way is up and dig in that direction to reach the surface and signal rescuers.

2 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Surprise! A New Penguin

A team of scientists in New Zealand recently came across the remains of a previously unknown species of penguin—by mistake. The discovery of the Waitaha penguin species, which has been extinct for 500 years, is exciting news for the scientific community     1     it gives new insight into how past extinction events can help shape the present environment.

The researchers uncovered the Waitaha penguin remains while studying New Zealand’s rare yellow-eyed penguin. The team wanted to investigate the effects     2     humans have had on the now endangered species. They studied centuries-old bones from     3     they thought were yellow-eyed penguins and compared them with the bones of modern yellow-eyed penguins. Surprisingly, some of the bones were older than     4     (expect). Even more shockingly, the DNA in the bones indicated that they did not belong to yellow-eyed penguins. The scientists concluded that these very old bones     5     have belonged to a previously unknown species, which they named the Waitaha penguin.

By studying the bones, scientists further concluded that the Waitaha penguin was once native     6     New Zealand. But after the settlement of humans on the island country, its population     7     (wipe) out.

Based on the ages of the bones of both penguin species, the team discovered a gap in time between the disappearance of the Waitaha and the arrival of the yellow-eyed penguin. The time gap indicates that the extinction of the Waitaha penguin created the opportunity for the yellow-eyed penguin population     8     (migrate) to New Zealand.

    9     yellow-eyed penguins thrived （兴盛） in New Zealand for many years, that species now also faces extinction. The yellow-eyed penguin today is considered one of the world’s     10     (rare) species of penguin, with an estimated population of 7,000 that is now the focus of an extensive conservation effort in New Zealand.

3 . The January fashion show, called Future Fashion, exemplified how far green design has come. Organized by the New York-based nonprofit Earth Pledge, the show inspired many top designers to work with sustainable fabrics for the first time. Several have since made pledges to include organic fabrics in their lines.

The designers who undertake green fashion still face many challenges. Scott Hahn, a cofounder with Gregory of Rogan and Loomstate, which uses all-organic cotton, says high-quality sustainable materials can still be tough to find. “Most designers with existing labels are finding there aren’t comparable materials that can just replace what you’re doing and what your customers are used to,” he says. For example, organic cotton and non-organic cotton are virtually indistinguishable once woven into a dress. But some popular synthetics, like stretch nylon, still have few eco-friendly equivalents.

Those who do make the switch are finding they have more support. Last year the influential trade show Designers & Agents stopped charging its participation fee for young green entrepreneurs who attend its two springtime shows in Los Angeles and New York and gave special recognition to designers whose collections are at least 25% sustainable. It now counts more than 50 green designers, up from fewer than a dozen two years ago. This week Wal-Mart is set to announce a major initiative aimed at helping cotton farmers go organic: it will buy transitional cotton at higher prices, thus helping to expand the supply of a key sustainable material. “Main-stream is about to occur,” says Hahn.

Some analysts are less sure. Among consumers, only 18% are even aware that eco-fashion exists, up from 6% four years ago. Natalie Hormilla, a fashion writer, is an example of the unconverted consumer. When asked if she owned any sustainable clothes, she replied, “Not that I’m aware of.” Like most consumers, she finds little time to shop, and when she does, she’s on the hunt for “cute stuff that isn’t too expensive.” By her own admission, green just isn’t yet on her mind. But thanks to the combined efforts of designers, retailers and suppliers—one day it will be.

1. What is said about Future Fashion?

A．It inspired leading designers to start going green.

B．It showed that designers using organic fabrics would go far.

C．It served as an example of how fashion shows should be organized.

D．It convinced the public that fashionable clothes should be made durable.

2. According to Scott Hahn, one big challenge to designers who will go organic is that ________.

A．much more time is needed to finish a dress using sustainable materials

B．they have to create new brands for clothes made of organic materials

C．customers have difficulty telling organic from non-organic materials

D．quality organic replacements for synthetics are not readily available

3. We learn from Paragraph 3 that designers who undertake green fashion ________.

A．can attend various trade shows for free

B．are readily recognized by the fashion world

C．can buy organic cotton at favorable prices

D．are gaining more and more support

4. What is Natalie Hormilla’s attitude toward eco-fashion?

A．She doesn’t seem to care about it.

B．She doesn’t think it is sustainable.

C．She is doubtful of its practical value.

D．She is opposed to the idea very much.

4 . We’ve all heard the stories of an actor’s struggles before a career breakthrough: living a hard life, working part time, being a couch potato before getting that major role. Shelby, the star of “A Dog’s Way Home,” has a hard-luck tale that could top them all. Before her big break, she was living in a landfill, rooting through garbage for her next meal.

Shelby’s big break came in April 2017, when animal-control officer Megan Buhler was driving in Cheatham County. Tennessee. Out on an unrelated call, Buhler spotted and approached what she recalled was a noticeably scared puppy emerging from the dump. “I knelt down and just said, ‘Oh, come here, baby,’” said Buhler. “She was so scared, but she came right up to me, and I was able to put her in my truck.” The pair headed to the county animal shelter, where the staff began calling the new resident Baby Girl.

Buhler and others didn’t know that 3,200 kilometers away, Hollywood was looking for a dog to play Bella in a film written by Cathryn Michon. The find-a-Bella job went to freelance trainer Teresa Ann Miler. Her mission was to search shelters nationwide for a dog that could play Bella. One day, Miller spotted Baby Girl’s adoption photo. “Honestly, it was a really good picture, and she was flat-out smiling,” Miller said. Then she met Baby Girl, and assessed her on personality and the ability to respond to simple commands. After assessment, she adopted Baby Girl from the shelter, renamed her Shelby and took her to California for training. Miller and Shelby trained for just over three months before filming began. Then they were together each day on the set.

Most of the film’s reviews have praised Shelby’s performance. Variety made the comments “an amazing dog, perfect performance!”

Shelby has come a long way from the dump. But Buhler said she saw Shelby recently had needed only a second to compare the movie star with the dog she found from piles of trash. “She’s exactly the same,” Buhler said.

1. Why does the author mention an actor’s struggle before a career breakthrough at the very beginning?

A．To make a sharp contrast between an actor’s struggle and a dog’s struggle.

B．To introduce a dog’s similar but even more striking experiences.

C．To attract reader’s attention by giving dramatic examples.

D．To clearly point out the main idea of the passage.

2. What finally helped Baby Girl get the big role in the film?

A．Her adoption picture.	B．Her flat-out smiling.
C．her personality and ability.	D．Her miserable experiences.

3. By saying “She is exactly the same” in the last paragraph, Buhler probably means _______.

A．the dog returned to the piles of trash where she found it

B．it took quite a lot of trouble for the dog to change her own fate.

C．she’s really excited to see the dog she helped live such a happy life

D．the dramatic change of the dog’s life hasn’t changed her inner quality

4. What do you think may serve as the best title of the passage?

A．The Success of “A Dog’s Way Home”

B．From a Landfill Puppy to a Movie Star

C．The Trainer and Her Star Dog

D．Shelby’s Hard-luck Story

5 . The ocean bottom - a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of the Earth - is a vast frontier that even today is largely unexplored and uncharted. Until about a century ago, the deep-ocean floor was completely inaccessible, hidden beneath waters averaging over 36, 000 meters deep. In complete darkness and subjected to intense pressures hundreds of times greater than at the Earth's surface, the deep-ocean bottom is an unfriendly environment to humans, in some ways as forbidding and remote as outer space.

Although researchers have taken samples of deep-ocean rocks and sediments (沉淀物) for over a century now, the first detailed global investigation of the ocean bottom did not actually start until 1968, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation's Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) . Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP's drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady position on the ocean's surface and drill in very deep waters, pulling out samples of sediment and rock from the ocean floor.

The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15-year research program that ended in November 1983. During this time, the vessel logged 600, 000 kilometers and took almost 20, 000 core samples of seabed sediments and rocks at 624 drilling sites around the world. The Glomar Challenger's core samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundreds of millions of years ago and to calculate what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger's voyages, nearly all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics (板块构造学说) and continental drift that explain many of the geological processes that have come to shape the Earth.

The cores of sediment drilled by the Glomar Challenger have also produced information critical to understanding the world's past climates. Deep-ocean sediments provide a climatic record that stretches back for hundreds of millions of years, because they are largely isolated from the mechanical erosion (侵蚀) and the intense chemical and biological activity that rapidly destroy much land-based evidence of past climates. This record has already provided insights into the patterns and causes of past climatic change—information that may be used to predict future climates.

1. The author refers to the ocean bottom as a "frontier" in Paragraph 1 because it ______.

A．is an unknown territory	B．attracts courageous explorers
C．contains wide variety of life forms	D．is not a popular area for scientific research

2. Which of the following is true of the Glomar Challenger?

A．It is an ongoing project.	B．It is a type of submarine.
C．It has gone on over 100 voyages.	D．It made its first DSDP voyage in 1968.

3. The Deep Sea Drilling Project was significant because it was ______.

A．funded entirely by the gas and oil industry

B．an attempt to find new sources of oil and gas

C．composed of geologists from all over the world

D．the first extensive exploration of the ocean bottom

4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as being a result of the Deep Sea Drilling Project?

A．Biologists observed forms of marine life never before seen.

B．Information was revealed about the Earth's past climatic changes.

C．Two geological theories became more widely accepted by scientists.

D．Geologists were able to determine the Earth's appearance hundreds of millions of years ago.

6 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Sneakers (运动鞋) Made from Old Chewing Gum

Dutch fashion and shoe label Explicit Wear is hoping to solve one of life’s sticky situations—the annoyance of stepping in waste chewing gum on the pavement—while helping to keep Amsterdam’s city streets clean. The brand has partnered with local marketing organization Iamsterdam and sustainability firm Gumdrop     1    (create) a   limited edition sneaker for adults made from recycled gum collected from   the city’s pavements.

Chewing gum causes an incredibly serious ecological problem,    2    it is made from plastics that do not biodegrade ( 生物降解). It’s also the second     3    (common) form of roadside litter, after cigarette ends. An incredible 3.3 million pounds of gum are incorrectly thrown away on the sidewalks each year,    4    (cost) the city millions of dollars to clean up. Gumdrop plans to collect waste gum from the streets of Amsterdam, clean them, and turn them into Gum-Tec, the material that forms the base of the shoe.

The waste gum will be put to good use to make stylish kicks,    5    will also raise awareness for the anti-littering cause.    6    (price) at around $332, the shoes will come into the market sometime next month.

Available for preorder now, the new Gumshoe sneakers—offered in both a bubblegum pink and a black/red colorway—     7     (feature) long-lasting rubber outsoles (鞋子外底)   shaped   from   recyclable   compounds produced by Gumdrop, 20 percent of which are made from gum.

Nearly 2.2 pounds of gum     8    (use) in every four pairs of shoes. A map of Amsterdam is made into the bottom of the soles to remind people of the littering problem. Even better, the sneakers actually still smell like bubblegum,    9    the annoying stickiness. Just as good as any sneaker with a rubber sole, the Gumshoes help   get chewing gum off our streets and keep the dangerously non-biodegradable substance out of our eco-system.

To help spread their sustainability message,    10    Gumshoe’s creators are hoping to do is to expand their project to other major cities around the world.

7 . In 2012, James Cameron, creator of Avatar and Titanic, became the first person to reach the Challenger Deep. When he arrived at the deepest spot on Earth at 7 miles below sea level, he spent hours mapping the region and taking photos and samples.

“As human beings, we’re drawn to absolutes—the deepest, the highest, the coldest, the farthest,” he says. “And as a storyteller and curious monkey, I just wanted to see what was there.” The answer is obvious—plastic and more. “Our so-called civilization is using the ocean as its toilet,” Cameron says. “Unless this changes, ocean ecosystems are going to continue their rapid collapse.”

Despite decades of environmental studies, the impact of plastic and other forms of pollution on oceans are not entirely understood. Initial studies appear to indicate that ingesting(摄取) them—either directly or indirectly—could cause disease. Plastics can also release poisonous substances into the water, which could potentially impact animal populations.

But plastic is just one of the problems facing oceans that have yet to be fully understood. “Plastic waste in the ocean is horrifying but is only the most obvious of our many deadly waste streams, which include carbon that’s heating the atmosphere and making the ocean acidic, and the run-off nutrients from all the world’s agriculture, which is causing anoxic(缺氧的) dead zones the size of countries,” Cameron says.

Oceans, like the rest of the world, are impacted by the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide—about 30 percent of which is absorbed by the sea. This absorption causes ocean acidification, where the pH level is altered to become more acidic. As a result, it’s harder for some creatures to form shells and skeletons and countless species at the base of the food web can struggle to survive, which, scientists say, has the potential to cause huge disruptions to entire ecosystems. Indeed, ocean acidification is thought to have played an important role in Earth’s worst-ever mass extinction event 252 million years ago.

The effect of climate change on the world’s oceans will likely worsen in coming decades. Last June, scientists announced carbon dioxide levels had reached the highest levels since human records began. The last time carbon dioxide levels were this high was during the Pliocene era, between 3 and 5 million years ago, when global temperatures were about 4 degrees Celsius warmer than they are today. Current climate models suggest that if greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trend, we may be on course to see 4 degrees of warming by 2100.

As a result, understanding the role oceans have on global systems is becoming more and more important.

1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?

A．The author’s feelings to the ocean.	B．Cameron’s movies and remarks.
C．The author’s discoveries under the sea.	D．Cameron’s observation and concern.

2. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Several countries are suffering from anoxic dead zones.

B．More concern should have been given to the pollution on oceans.

C．Plastic is supposed to be the most serious environmental problem.

D．Ocean acidification removes the nutrients from agricultural products.

3. What does the underlined word “disruptions” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Decreases.	B．Destruction.
C．Diseases.	D．Discrimination.

4. Why does the author mention the mass extinction event 252 million years ago?

A．To call on people to protect sea animals.

B．To compare current situations with the past.

C．To explain how serious the ocean problem is.

D．To prove pollution to be the cause of acidification.

8 . WE COMBAT ANIMAL DISEASES TOGETHER!

We want to prevent serious animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever and African swine fever from spreading to Finland. These and other animal diseases can be transmitted from one country to another by animals or by meat and dairy products even if they are packed for personal consumption or intended as gifts. Travelers like you play an important role in preventing the spread of animal diseases.

Don’t bring meat, meat products, milk and dairy products from non-EU countries to Finland!

A ban on personal imports applies to meat and dairy products brought into Finland by travelers or ordered and sent through the post. The ban applies to food stuffs intended for personal consumption or as gifts and to pet food. If you have food products of animal origin with you, throw them in a waste container in the point of entry or contact Customs!

Bringing meat-containing products as presents and for personal use from an EU country to Finland

At the moment, there are EU countries with cases of African swine fever. In those countries there are restriction areas and, as a rule, pork and wild bear meat or products containing these meats may not be imported from these areas into Finland. Import is allowed only under very strict criteria controlled by local authorities. However, the sales of these meat products within the country may be allowed. In the EU, the disease has been detected in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium and Italy (Sardinia), for instance. It is difficult for travelers to know and prove from which area meat products originate and whether the products on sale meet all criteria. This is the reason why we recommend that people avoid importing any meat products containing pork or wild bear meat as presents or for personal use from countries with African swine fever.

PLEASE NOTE! Never leave any food waste or leftover in the environment or places where they may be eaten by wildlife. Never give food waste or leftover to production animals or to pet pigs.

Thank you for helping us to prevent the spread of animal diseases. We wish you a pleasant journey!

1. Whom is this notice intended for?

A．Food importers in Finland.	B．Travelers to Finland.
C．Citizens in EU countries.	D．Medical staff from non-EU countries.

2. Why does the Finnish Food Authority issue the notice?

A．To protect endangered wildlife.	B．To secure the domestic economy.
C．To promote vegetarian lifestyle.	D．To prevent the infectious diseases.

3. Which of the following behaviors is IMPROPER, according to the notice?

A．A Russian official threw a beef burger in a dustbin at the Finnish airport.

B．A Finnish girl fed milk to pigeon at the park in her neighborhood.

C．A Japanese traveler bought some Hungarian homemade sausages in Finland.

D．A German brought German cheeses to his Finnish girlfriend as a gift.

9 . Escaping predators (食肉动物), digestion and other animal activities—including those of humans—require oxygen. But that essential ingredient is no longer so easy for marine life to obtain, several new studies reveal.

In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive—an alarming trend that is linked to climate change, says Andreas Oschlies, an oceanographer at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Germany, whose team tracks ocean oxygen levels worldwide. “We were surprised by the intensity of the changes we saw, how rapidly oxygen is going down in the ocean and how large the effects on marine ecosystems are,” he says. It is no surprise to scientists that warming oceans are losing oxygen, but the scale of the drop calls for urgent attention. Oxygen levels in some tropical (热带的) regions have dropped by an astonishing 40 percent in the last 50 years, some recent studies reveal. Levels have dropped less significantly elsewhere, with an average loss of 2 percent globally.

A warming ocean loses oxygen for two reasons: First, the warmer a liquid becomes, the less gas it can hold. That is why carbonated drinks go flat faster when left in the sun. Second, as polar sea ice melts, it forms a layer of water above colder, more salty sea waters. This process creates a sort of lid that can keep currents from mixing surface water down to deeper depths. And because all oxygen enters the surface, less mixing means less of it at depth.

Ocean animals large and small, however, respond to even slight changes in oxygen by seeking refuge in higher oxygen zones or by adjusting behavior, Oschlies and others in his field have found. These adjustments can expose animals to new predators or force them into food-scarce regions. Climate change already poses serious problems for marine life, such as ocean acidification, but deoxygenation is the most pressing issue facing sea animals today, Oschlies says. After all, he says, “they all have to breathe.”

Aside from food web problems, animals face various other physiological challenges as their bodies adjust to lower oxygen levels. Chinese shrimp (虾) move their tails less vigorously to preserve energy in lower oxygen environments. Some creatures, such as jellyfishes, are more tolerant of low oxygen than others are. But all animals will feel the impact of deoxygenation because they all have evolved their oxygen capacity for a reason, says Oschlies. “Any drop in oxygen is going to damage survivability and performance,” he says.

1. According to the first two paragraphs, what worries scientists the most?

A．The worsening deoxygenation in the warming ocean.

B．The survival of predators and various marine animals.

C．The alarmingly changeable oxygen levels in the ocean.

D．The lack of attention to the warming of tropical oceans.

2. Which of the following is a reason for the oxygen loss in the ocean?

A．Polar ice melting consumes much oxygen in the ocean.

B．Global warming reduces the amount of oxygen in the air.

C．The surface polar ice water prevents oxygen going down.

D．Salty water holds less gas in the increasingly warmer ocean.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Ocean deoxygenation changes some animals’ natural territories.

B．Ocean acidification is more serious a problem than deoxygenation.

C．Not all ocean animals are bothered by the decreasing oxygen levels.

D．Some animals reduce their movements in order to absorb more oxygen.

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

A．The Oxygen Levels of Marine Life	B．Ocean Warming Affects Food Web
C．The Survivability of Ocean Animals	D．The Ocean Is Running Out of Breath

10 . In the United States alone,over 100 million cell-phones are thrown away each year.Cell-phones are part of a growing mountain of electronic waste like computers and personal digital assistants.The electronic waste stream is increasing three times taster than traditional garbage as a whole.

Electronic devices contain valuable metals such as gold and silver.A Swiss study reported that while the weight of electronic goods represented by precious metals was relatively small in comparison to total waste,the concentration（含量）of gold and other precious metals was higher in So-called e-waste than in naturally occurring minerals.

Electronic wastes also contain many poisonous metals.Even when the machines are recycled and the harmful metals removed,the recycling process often is carried out in poor countries,in practically uncontrolled ways which allow many poisonous substances to escape into the environment.

Creating products out of raw materials creates much more waste material,up to 100 times more,than the material contained in the finished products.Consider again the cell-phone,and imagine the mines that produced those metals,the factories needed to make the box and packaging（包装）it came in.Many wastes produced in the producing process are harmful as well.

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency notes that most waste is dangerous in that"the production, distribution,and use of products-as well as management of the resulting waste-all result in greenhouse gas release." Individuals can reduce their contribution by creating less waste at the start-for instance,buying reusable products and recycling.

In many countries the concept of extended producer responsibility is being considered or has been put in place as an incentive（动机）for reducing waste.If producers are required to take back packaging they use to sell their products,would they reduce the packaging in the first place?

Governments' incentive to require producers to take responsibility for the packaging they produce is usually based on money.Why,they ask,should cities or towns be responsible for paying to deal with the bubble wrap（气泡垫）that encased your television?

From the governments' point of view,a primary goal of laws requiring extended producer responsibility is to transfer both the costs and the physical responsibility of waste management from the government and tax-payers back to the producers.

1. By mentioning the Swiss study,the author intends to tell us that         .

A．the weight of e-goods is rather small

B．natural minerals contain more precious metals

C．E-waste deserves to be made good use of

D．the percentage of precious metals is heavy in e-waste

2. The responsibility of e-waste treatment should be extended          .

A．from producers to governments

B．from governments to producers

C．from individuals to distributors

D．from distributors to governments

3. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．The increase in e-waste.	B．The creation of e-waste.
C．The seriousness of e-waste.	D．The management of e-waste.