1 . When most people think of rodents(啮齿动物), they either think of pests like mice and rats, or cute animals, like guinea pigs or squirrels. What does not usually come to mind is the grass-chewing, water-loving, dog- sized capybara (水豚). Weighing up to 66 kilograms, the capybara is the world’s largest rodent. And that might be the least interesting thing about this wonderful animal.
Native to South America, capybaras are found in grasslands near lakes or rivers. They are excellent swimmers and spend much of their time in the water. They have webs between their toes to help them swim even better. Moreover, the position of their eyes, ears, and noses on the tops of their heads helps them fully dive in the water to hide from predators (捕食者). They love the water, and they can even sleep underwater, with only their noses above the surface.
Like many other rodents, capybaras live in large social groups. What’s unusual, however, is how friendly capybaras are with other animal species. The internet is full of images showing smaller animals sitting on capybaras. But despite these giant rodents’ social natures and cuteness, they don’t make very good pets. They can be territorial(有地盘意识的) with larger animals, and they have been known to bite humans when they feel threatened.
Capybaras continue to lose some of their cuteness when one takes a look at their diet. Their main food is grass, but like many grass-eating animals, they are not able to fully take in their meal the first time it passes through their digestive system(消化系统). So, capybaras frequently eat their own droppings to get additional nutrients from previous meals. There are lots of reasons to love capybaras, but this probably isn’t one of them.
1. According to this passage, what is special about capybaras among rodents?| A．Their size. | B．Their fur. | C．Their teeth. | D．Their living waters. |
| A．Their fur mixes with their environment. |
| B．They live in large groups to hide each individual. |
| C．They stand still in very tall grass. |
| D．They keep most of their bodies under the water. |
| A．They need a lot of water to play in. |
| B．They may hurt humans when threatened. |
| C．Their food is too expensive to afford. |
| D．They carry diseases that are dangerous to humans. |
| A．Their diet is especially friendly to the environment. |
| B．Capybaras become less cute when it comes to their diet. |
| C．Capybaras keep a balanced diet to get additional nutrients. |
| D．Their diet consists of many things, including grasses and other animals’ waste. |
2 . Human illumination （照明）of the planet is growing in range and intensity by about 2% a year, creating a problem that can be compared to climate change, according to a team of biologists from the University of Exeter.
Hormone （激素）levels, breeding cycles and activity patterns are being affected across a broad range of species. In all the animal species examined, they found reduced levels of melatonin一 a hormone that regulates sleep cycles 一 as a result of artificial light at night. Behavioural patterns were also disturbed. Rodents, which mostly search for food at night, were active for a shorter period? while birds started singing and searching for worms earlier in the day.
The outcomes were not purely negative. The scientists said certain species in certain locations benefited from night-time light：some plants grew faster and some types of bats thrived （兴旺）. But they said the overall effect was catastrophic, particularly to the insects drawn to fast-moving car lamps.
Satellite images of the Earth at night show how rapidly the problem is expanding geographically, but lights are also becoming more intense as expensive soft amber bulbs are replaced by greater numbers of cheap bright white LEDs. This is biologically problematic because the white light has a wider range, like sunlight.
Unlike the climate crisis, however, the lead author, Kevin Gaston said solving the lighting problem would save rather than cost money. But it would require a change of mindset. "At the heart of this is a deep-rooted human need to light up the night. We are still in a sense afraid of the dark,“ he said. "The ability to turn the night-time into something like the daytime is something we have pursued far beyond the necessity of doing so. ”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The wide use of artificial light. | B．The bad effects of artificial light. |
| C．The abnormal behaviour of species. | D．The biological diversity of species. |
| A．The amount of lighting. | B．The change of sunlight. |
| C．The range of white LEDs. | D．The pressure of climate change. |
| A．It takes time to get the problem solved. |
| B．To light up the night sky is not necessary. |
| C．It costs money to solve the lighting problem. |
| D．The problem is deeply rooted in the history. |
| A．We should protect our environment in a scientific way. |
| B．We should solve climate crisis with a biological approach. |
| C．We should conserve our nature with maximum effort. |
| D．We should treat artificial light like other forms of pollution. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
A week before Earth Day, posters put up around our school, called on us to protect our earth. Our class came up with the idea that we should make a better use of the used materials. We bring worn-out clothes and empty plastic bottles to our classroom and turned them into handbags and small vases. That weekend, we went to a nearby neighbourhood and gave away that we had made to the people here. Everyone was very happily with those gifts, especially little kids. We did very well that we were invited to share our ideas and experiences with all the student of our school. We are very proud of us and believe that we can do much more for a better world.
| A．Cold. | B．Rainy. | C．Hot. |
5 . The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown，Ohio，for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another，employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.
The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)have taken it a step further changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse，even unusual functions. These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they’re short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater. ＂We’re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day,＂explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.
One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow(发光)in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano’s team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours. The light，about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by，is just a start. The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.
In the future，the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant’s lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off＂switch＂where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight.
Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source(电源)-such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway-a lot of energy is lost during transmission(传输).Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．A new study of different plants. |
| B．A big fall in crime rates. |
| C．Employees from various workplaces. |
| D．Benefits from green plants. |
| A．To detect plants’ lack of water |
| B．To change compositions of plants |
| C．To make the life of plants longer. |
| D．To test chemicals in plants. |
| A．They will speed up energy production. |
| B．They may transmit electricity to the home. |
| C．They might help reduce energy consumption. |
| D．They could take the place of power plants. |
| A．Can we grow more glowing plants? |
| B．How do we live with glowing plants? |
| C．Could glowing plants replace lamps? |
| D．How are glowing plants made pollution-free? |
6 . Climate change has already begun to impact our planet in more ways than we can think.
Make your commute green. Millions of people drive to work every day.
Be more conservative with energy usage. Becoming more energy efficient is a great way to prevent pollution.
Recycle. Manufacturing plants emit a large number of greenhouse gasses per year. It is unavoidable in the production of goods that we use on a regular basis. However, a cleaner alternative would be to invest in recycling.
| A．Educate yourself and others. |
| B．Encourage the use of renewable energies. |
| C．It’s simply unavoidable in our modern-day society. |
| D．Be sure to collect your abandoned paper, plastic and electronics. |
| E．Fortunately, there are always things we can do to fight against it. |
| F．This requires you to cut down on energy usage in your household. |
| G．Recycling is a cost-effective and eco-friendly process that eliminates waste. |
7 . The decline in sea ice seen in the Arctic in recent decades has been linked by scientists to the spread of a deadly virus in marine (海洋的) mammals. Researchers found that Phocine distemper virus (PDV) had spread from animals in the North Atlantic to populations in the North Pacific.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the ice has been retreating by around 12% per decade between 1979 and 2018. These sea ice changes in September (2018) are likely unprecedented (前所未有的) for at least 1, 000 years. “Between 1979 and 2018, the real proportion (比例) of multi-year ice that is at least five years old has declined by approximately 90%,” the IPCC said in their report on the oceans and the cryosphere (冰冻圈) published in September.
Against this changing background, researchers have investigated the likely spread of the PDV infection, which caused a large number of deaths among harbour seals in the North Atlantic in 2002. Melting sea ice is now connecting marine mammals, like these Steller sea lions, which were formerly separated by ice . “As animals move and come in contact with other species, they carry opportunities to introduce and catch new infectious disease, with potentially destructive effects.” said author Dr Tracey Goldstein, from the University of California, Davis.
The authors warn that this trend could continue as they believe climate driven changes in the Arctic ocean will increase. The opportunities for the spread of PDV will likely grow, with uncertain health outcomes for many species.
1. What does the word “populations” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The marine mammals. | B．The people. |
| C．The virus. | D．The land animals. |
| A．The loss of sea ice. | B．The formation of sea ice. |
| C．The effect of sea ice. | D．The proportion of sea ice. |
| A．How marine mammals adapt to their habitats. |
| B．How a large number of seals died in the Arctic. |
| C．How melting ice is linked to the spread of virus. |
| D．How marine mammals live with the melting ice. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Health. |
| C．Education. | D．Nature. |
8 . "What kind of rubbish are you?" This question might normally cause anger, but in Shanghai it has become a special "greeting" among people over the past week. On July 1st, the city introduced strict trash-sorting regulations （条例〉that are required to follow and expected to be used as a model for our country. Residents must divide their waste into four separate categories and toss （投放）it into specific public dustbins. They must do so at specified times, when monitors are present to ensure correct trash-tossing and to ask the nature of one's rubbish. Individuals who fail to follow the regulations face the possibility of fines and worse. They could be punished with fines of up to 200 yuan （ $ 29）. For those who repeat to go against them, the government can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to get bank loans or even buy train tickets.
Shanghai government is responding to an obvious environmental problem. It generates 9 million tons of garbage a year, more than London's annual output, which is rising quickly. But like other cities in China, it lacks a recycling system. Instead, it has relied on trash pickers to sift （筛选）through the waste, picking out whatever can be reused. This has limits. As people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up.
Many residents appear to support the idea of recycling in general but are annoyed by the details. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or harmful, the distinctions among which can be confusing, though there are apps to help work it out. Some have complained about the rules concerning food waste. They must put it straight in the required public bins, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and toss it by hand. What they complain most is the short periods for dropping trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. Along with the monitors at the bins, this means that people go at around the same time and can keep an eye on what is being thrown out； no one wants to look bad.
1. What do we know about the trash-sorting regulations in Shanghai?| A．They are the first of their kind. | B．They are tied to one's bank account. |
| C．They have the highest fines. | D．They're aided by monitors. |
| A．There are fewer and fewer trash pickers. |
| B．It aims to build a new recycling system. |
| C．It faces more and more serious garbage problems. |
| D．People throw the rubbish here and there. |
| A．Limited time for tossing the trash. |
| B．Confusing distinction among the categories of trash. |
| C．Being fined due to improper behavior. |
| D．Being watched by monitors when throwing the garbage. |
| A．A Good Way of Trash-sorting |
| B．A New Era of Garbage Classification |
| C．A Great Time in Dealing with Litter |
| D．An Effective Solution to Rubbish Problem |
内容包括:
1.严峻形势 2.垃圾分类的意义 3.垃圾分类的做法 4.呼吁全体同学参加
注意:1.词数不少于100；
2.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
提示词:垃圾分类 garbage sorting
Dear fellow students
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10 . Nature is like a great magician, performing wonders on Earth. One of them is the Amazon rainforest, the world's largest and home to millions of plants and animals. Nicknamed "the lungs of our planet", it generates about one-fifth of Earth's oxygen. However, this wonderful natural wonder is currently in danger.
Thousands of fires have broken out in Brazil, endangering much of the rainforest. These blazes have lasted several weeks and are believed to be the "most intense" in almost a decade, according to BBC News.
The Amazon has seen a large number of fires in 2019. Between January and August, there were over 74,000 fires the highest number since 2013, the BBC reported.
Forest fires are common during the dry season, which runs from July to October. They are usually caused by natural events, such as lightning strikes. However, most of the fires this year are believed to be caused by farmers, who use fire as a traditional part of tropical agriculture to clean land, reported CNN.
The disaster has raised concern around the world. The Amazon rainforest is important for preventing climate change, said the BBC, absorbing millions of tons of carbon annually. When trees are cut down or burned, the rainforest's capacity （能力）to absorb carbon is reduced.
Brazilian climate expert Carlos Nobre told Reuters he's worried. If more than 20 percent of the ecosystem is destroyed, the Amazon rainforest could reach a "tipping point （临界点）where the thick jungle will turn into a tropical savannah （大草原）.
Nobre warned that it is not far off, with between 15 and 17 percent of the rainforest having already been destroyed.
The Brazilian government has sent soldiers to fight the fires. Many people have offered their support and called for recovery efforts. For example, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said he wanted to donate money and US Actor Leonardo DiCaprio's environmental charity, Earth Alliance, created a donation fund to help deal with the crisis.
The public are also encouraged to donate to charities concerned with rainforest preservation （保护）."Every little bit helps in a tragic situation like this," commented Gizmodo.
1. The underlined word "intense" in Para.2 probably means _______.| A．natural | B．fierce | C．common | D．unexpected |
| A．Lightning strikes. | B．Hot weather. |
| C．Agricultural activities. | D．Garbage left by tourists. |
| A．Global temperatures will rise. |
| B．The Amazon rainforest is close to disappearing. |
| C．Animals in the Amazon rainforest are under threat. |
| D．It will take decades for the Amazon rainforest to recover. |
| A．What the Brazilian government has done to fight fires. |
| B．Celebrities who care about rainforest preservation. |
| C．The possible future of the Amazon rainforest. |
| D．Efforts made to save the Amazon rainforest. |
