1 . Directions: After reading the passages 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.

Parental Instincts

Last year in early summer, I was walking up the hill to my house in suburban Brisbane when I saw two birds, each about 6 centimeters tall, standing in my driveway. They didn’t seem to notice me     1     I was right in front of them and then they immediately scattered into the nearby bushes.

I was quite excited by the idea of two special birds     2    (make) a nest in my front yard, although I didn’t really expect them to as wild birds don’t usually nest so close.

A few weeks later, the birds reappeared. I found them crouching beside a tree off to the side of my driveway. As I approached them, I imagined that they’d run away like they did last time, but instead they     3    (stick) out their heads and made a threatening croaking sound     4     came from deep inside their throats.

I did some research and found that the birds are burhinus grallarius(长尾石鸻). I still didn’t know    5    they were croaking at me until a short time later I made an amazing discovery: they     6    (lay) two eggs which hatched into two small birds racing around now.

As I crept towards the birds, careful not to make any sudden movement, they started their croaking again,     7    (stretch) their necks forwards so they seemed longer and more threatening.

I was watching them in awe when I suddenly tripped and fell to the ground. The birds took this     8     a threat and the father raced towards me, spreading his wings to shield the mother and the chicks while making     9     appear larger.

I was sorry     10    (scare) them and left quickly.

I am amazed by their bold actions. Their parental instincts kicked in and made them so courageous. It is hard not to be awed by nature.

2 . How to Improve Climate Literacy

Climate literacy is the ability to identify, understand and explain information associated with climate science.     1    

Over the past few years, many young people and educators have pushed for the inclusion of climate literacy in national curricula. So what are the best ways in which this can be embedded within already packed school timetables?

True climate literacy must address not only the science of climate change, but also issues of climate (in)justice, including how climate change affects people and places unevenly and contributes to inequalities within and across nations.

    2     Many people in developed countries like the UK therefore see climate change happening elsewhere and to other people, with less relevance to their own lives.

    3     We need to start highlighting the local effects of climate change to ground abstract understanding in reality.

One way to do this is through visual storytelling. Storytelling, often involving drawings and paintings, has been used by human communities to pass on knowledge or tales of caution for at least 30,000 years — as you can see from the cave painting.

One effect of storytelling is its ability to create cognitive dissonance: the mental conflict and discomfort felt when a person’s behaviour isn’t in line with their beliefs. Stories that demonstrate the consequences of not acting eco-consciously — especially if those consequences are shown visually — can be a good way to do this, leading to individuals being more likely to take climate action in their own lives or by confronting corporate activities.

A．Therefore, the teachers we worked with remarked that lessons are typically focused on the physical processes of climate change.

B．However, at present, much of climate change education is focused on the physical aspects of climate change, often at a global scale.

C．The next stages of our research will reflect how a separated community has come together through this journey towards climate literacy.

D．Being climate literate allows individuals to become active participants in the fight against climate change.

E．This collective psychological distancing means many fail to recognise the urgency of the climate crisis.

3 .

Saving the Planet is Kids’ Task Environmental problems plague every country, but where there’s energy and enthusiasm, there’s hope. Nowhere is energy and enthusiasm more boundless than amongst school-age children. Now thousands of Australian children can have fun while learning to develop a real passion for protecting the environment. Sponsored by Australia Post, the ‘Ollie Saves the Planet’ interactive CD-ROM and associated website (www.olliesworld.com) introduce children to the concept of conservation and encourage them to consider their actions in the areas of waste, water, energy, air, and bio-diversity. It is a great resource for classroom activities and school projects, with lots of games for hours of entertainment. A complimentary(免费赠送的) copy of the CD-ROM, which retails for $24.95, has been sent to every school throughout Australia to show young environmentalists how they can ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink’. Order your CD-ROM today!  Hours of easy-to-use edu-tainment  Suitable for PC and Mac  Project resource information  Extensive teachers’ notes & lesson plans  A range of interactive games and puzzles  Real-life case studies Hurry, the environment needs your help! Call 1800 804 078 NOW! AUSTRALIA POST

1. Which of the following words has the closest meaning with the word “plague” (para.1)?

A．trouble

B．arouse

C．target

D．motivate

2. The words “reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink” (para.4) are mostly used ________.

A．to draw the readers’ attention to bio-diversity

B．because they’re easy for students to remember the projects

C．to show the writer’s skill of using similar words

D．because they are the technical terms for environment protection

3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in this poster?

A．The CD-ROM product is fun for children to use.

B．Children must have certain skills to use this product.

C．It is important to act quickly to obtain this product.

D．The CD-ROM will help children become environmentally aware.

4. What’s the purpose of the poster?

A．To command school to introduce the CD-ROM to students.

B．To provide a discount for the schools to buy the products.

C．To encourage Australian children to contribute to protecting environment.

D．To collect education resources for classroom activities and school projects.

4 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．45%

B．54%

C．70%

D．74%

2.

A．To make supportive policies to call on people to use water wisely.

B．To get more people to use water in environmental-friendly ways.

C．To develop more water recycling systems in poor countries.

D．To encourage people to save energy actively as much as possible.

3.

A．Estimates about water use.	B．Importance of fresh water.
C．Concerns about water issues.	D．Lack of safe drinking water.

5 . As plastic waste increases rapidly around the world, an essential question remains unanswered: What harm, if any, does it cause to human health?

A few years ago, as microplastics began turning up in the organs of fish and shellfish, the concern was focused on the safety of seafood. Shellfish were a particular worry, because in their case, unlike fish, we eat the entire animal — stomach, microplastics and all. In 2017, Belgian scientists announced that seafood lovers could consume up to 11,000 plastic particles (粒子) a year by eating mussels (贻贝), a favorite dish in that country.

By then, however, scientists already understood that plastics continuously fragment small pieces in the environment, tearing over time into fibers even smaller than a strand of human hair — particles are so small that they easily fly in the air. A team at the U.K.’s University of Plymouth decided to compare the threat from eating polluted wild mussels in Scotland to that of breathing air in a typical home. Their conclusion: People will take in more plastic by breathing in or taking tiny, invisible plastic fibers floating in the air around them—fibers from their own clothes, carpets, and soft covering on furniture — than they will by eating the mussels.

So, it wasn’t much of a surprise when, in 2022, scientists from the Netherlands and the U.K, announced they had found tiny plastic particles in living humans, in two places where they hadn’t been seen before: deep inside the lungs of surgical patients, and in the blood of unknown donors. Neither of the two studies answered the question of possible harm. But together they signaled a shift in the focus of concern about plastics toward the cloud of dust particles in the air, some of them are so small that they can get into deep inside the body and even inside cells, in ways that larger microplastics can’t.

Dick Vethaak, a professor of ecotoxicology (生态毒理学), doesn’t consider the results alarming, exactly—“but, yes, we should be concerned. Plastics should not be in your blood.” “We live in a multi-particle world,” he adds, referring to the dust, pollen (花粉), and smog that humans also breathe in every day. “The trick is to figure out how much plastics contribute to that particle burden and what does that mean.”

1. What does the word “fragment” in para. 3 probably mean?

A．break into

B．take in

C．pick out

D．make up

2. The study done by a team at the U K.’s University of Plymouth shows that ________.

A．microplastics from things in our daily life ant more poisonous

B．people eating polluted mussels are more likely to get diseases

C．invisible plastic fibers are more harmful to the environment

D．the influence of microplastics in mussels is less than thought

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．microplastics in polluted wild mussels can cause serious diseases

B．there’s no need to worry about the plastics found in human blood

C．we can avoid breathing particles by figuring out particle burden

D．more attention should be paid to the dust particles than plastics

4. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．Are Microplastics Harmful to Us?

B．Should Microplastics be in Our Blood?

C．Can Microplastics Get into Our Bodies?

D．Do We Know Anything about Microplastics?

6 . Most people have seen animals solve problems in one context or another Whether it’s a dog getting food out of a puzzle toy, a squirrel (松鼠) breaking into a “squirrel-proof, bird feeder, or — in what is hopefully a rarer experience — a bear opening a door to get to the food inside!

Do all individuals within a species come up with ________ solutions to problems? Or are some individuals more innovative than others? In ungulates (for example, goats and horses), social outsiders are more likely to innovate than their ________ groupmates: if an individual spends time on the outer areas of their group, they are more likely to succeed at a problem-solving task.

________, in some species of primates (灵长类动物) and birds, it has been shown that individuals with low social standing — that is, those who regularly lose fights, and who don’t have ________ of access to valuable resources — tend to innovate more.

The above examples tie into the theory that the individuals who are least able to gain access to good quality ________, such as food and shelter, are the most likely to innovate. This “bad competitor” theory suggests that individuals innovate because they must do so to ________. Imagine you’re a goat who can’t get access to the feeding container because you’re not in the in-group. You’d probably be more ________ to figure out how to open a container with food inside than your more popular (and well-fed) groupmates.

However, while there is support for this theory in some species, many species show opposing patterns. ________, being a “bad competitor” doesn’t seem to be a general driver of innovation across species. ________ appears to have a more general influence on animal innovativeness. A meta-analysis (综合分析) across 37 studies of animal innovation found that being brave (that is, approaching ________ objects and exploring new environments) was linked to innovative behavior. For example, brave Carib grackles (a species of bird) and ungulates are more likely to innovate than their more easily frightened groupmates. ________ has also been linked to innovation in a variety of species, from zebra finches (斑胸草雀) to Asian elephants.

Both make instinctive sense. The more likely an individual is to ________ with a new problem (that is, the braver they are, and the more time they spend trying to solve a problem (that is, the more persistent they are), the more likely they are to find a(n) ________.

Regardless of the reason individuals innovate, once an individual finds a solution to a problem, ________ a problem involving resource access, their behavior can spread like wildfire. Other individuals pay attention when a groupmate innovates, and ________ the problem-solving behavior.

1.

A．instant

B．comprehensive

C．fair

D．creative

2.

A．friendly

B．popular

C．close

D．faithful

3.

A．Similarly

B．Inevitably

C．Apparently

D．Gradually

4.

A．purpose

B．priority

C．pressure

D．potential

5.

A．services

B．materials

C．goods

D．resources

6.

A．pretend

B．compete

C．survive

D．evolve

7.

A．reluctant

B．excited

C．motivated

D．confused

8.

A．Thus

B．Besides

C．Still

D．Meanwhile

9.

A．Emotion

B．Gender

C．Appearance

D．Personality

10.

A．living

B．novel

C．endangered

D．ideal

11.

A．Persistence

B．Intelligence

C．Performance

D．Confidence

12.

A．conflict

B．compare

C．interact

D．identify

13.

A．position

B．object

C．solution

D．chance

14.

A．absolutely

B．fortunately

C．definitely

D．particularly

15.

A．copy

B．change

C．influence

D．evaluate

7 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one more word than you need.

A. appearances B. imitating C. distinguish D. isolate E. advantageous F. diverse G. identical H. criterion I. markings J. poisonous K. threatening

Why different species start looking exactly the same

Is it better to stand out from the crowd or be similar to the background? For birds, the answer is complicated. While peacocks(孔雀) show off their brightly colored feathers to attract mates and ward off predators(捕食者), other birds find it     1     to hide themselves by imitating the looks of other birds.

Groups of birds flying together often come from the same species, making it hard to     2     one from another. However, some groups of birds including two or more species take on similar     3    , which is an uncommon phenomenon. “They all share random features, like feathers on head or yellow bellies(腹部), which makes them almost     4    . You can’t really tell them apart without looking at their     5    .” says Scott Robinson, a famous scholar. His new study suggests     6     another bird’s appearance is not a coincidence(巧合) but rather an evolutionary method to increase their chances of survival. Looking like a bird from a dominant species helps reduce attack from other members and appear more     7     to potential predators.

“In imitation, you often want to look like something because there’s an advantage to being that other thing. You want species to think you’re     8     or low-profitable target.” says Rebecca Kimball, a professor of biology. “In grouping birds, one idea is that this has more to do with a predator’s ability to     9     a target. When there are a group of birds moving around, it may be easier for predators to identify an individual that has a distinct color pattern.”

While it may not seem like it at first, imitating other birds is helping to create more     10     species. Not only do birds imitate more than one species as they grow up, but their appearance varies over time.

8 . Directions: After reading the passages 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.

Fresh warning sounded on plastics problem

Walk along any beach in the world, no matter how isolated, and you will see plastic of some kind washed up on the shoreline,     1    (offer) a reminder of the reckless throwaway culture of the present-day world.

Lately, a study     2     (sound) a fresh warning on the damage caused to the marine ecosystem due to discarded plastics, which eventually has a bearing on human health due to the seafood we consume.

In a paper     3    (title) “A Growing Plastic Smog” published on March 8, 2023 in the peer-reviewed research journal Plos One, researchers called on governments around the world     4    (take) sweeping action to address the “unprecedented plastic pollution” of the world’s oceans.

The plastics break down over time into minute particles that cannot be detected by the naked eye, but find their way into the marine ecosystem and into the seafood humans consume. No one knows for certain     5     the long-term damage will be to marine life and humans, but the study placed much of the blame on the plastics industry for failing to recycle or design for recyclability. “    6     eaten, microplastics can severely damage an animal’s internal tissues. Globally, we have reached a situation     7     we can no longer ignore the plastic pollution pandemic that is infecting our oceans,” he said.

“This research shows us that beach cleanups and citizen science projects that focus on the environmental fate of plastics have little impact on solving the enormity of the plastic problem. Marcus Eriksen, lead author of the study, said in a statement that the findings were a “stark warning     8     we must act now at a global scale”. “We’ve found an alarming trend of exponential growth of microplastics in the global ocean since the millennium, which     9    (expect) to reach over 170 trillion plastic particles,” said Eriksen, adding that the exponential increase in microplastics across the world’s oceans makes     10     necessary to “bring in an age of corporate responsibility for the entire life of the things they make”.

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. adaptable        B. classic          C. determined   D. effectively   E. fundamentally F. immediately     G. sideways       H. stretched       I. survival        J. underside       K. upright

Why Are Trees Tree-shaped?

While running through a leafy park days ago, I passed dozens of tree species of different sizes and ages, and I was suddenly struck by how     1     similar they were. Wide trunks split into smaller branches in the same sort of way. You could guess the height of a tree just by looking at how wide its trunk is. We would notice     2     if someone drew a tree with branches that were too wide or a trunk that was too thin. What makes a tree look like a tree? Maximising the sunlight hitting the tree’s leaves is obviously critical for the tree’s     3    . But the size and shape of the branches is largely     4     by a different standards: a tree must be strong enough to stay standing     5    , possibly for centuries. Imagine an oak tree, with branches reaching     6     off the main trunk. Each branch has to support its own considerable weight, so the wood in its lower half is slightly compressed and the top half is being     7    . That top layer of a branch takes the weight of the branch. And a particular type of wood has grown there to do that job. It’s called reaction wood, because it formed as reinforcement (增强) to take the increasing weight as the branch grew. The trees that reinforce on top the branches are the “lollipop” ones:     8     branching species like oaks. But there is another way of solving that problem. Some trees grow their reinforcing reaction wood on the     9     instead, so the branch is pushed up, rather than pulled from above. It works, but not as     10    , so these trees can’t support large side branches. The ones that reinforce underneath have a thick trunk with much smaller side branches, and they grow to be conical—some examples of these trees are pines and firs.

oak pine fir

10 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．The location.

B．The scenery.

C．The seafood.

D．The culture.

2.

A．Attract whales to the closer shore.	B．Tell people where to see whales.
C．Warn people to stay away from shore.	D．Go around to gather enough visitors.

3.

A．It is held every other year in summer.

B．It helps Whale Crier to show his talents.

C．It guarantees everyone to find something to enjoy.

D．It is one of the best eco-arts festivals in South Africa.