1 . Our city is in a sorry state. Outdoor pollution kills 4.2 million people a year, according to the World Health Organization. Concrete and tarmac (柏油碎石材料) absorb the sun’s rays rather than reflecting them back into space, and also replace plants which would otherwise cool things down. The continuous spread of buildings and roads thus turns urban areas into heat islands, discomforting residents and worsening dangerous heatwaves.
A possible answer is trees. Their leaves may destroy at least some chemical pollutants (污染物) and provide shade. In 2019, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that American cities need 40% tree coverage to cut urban heat back meaningfully. Unfortunately, not all cities — and especially not those springing up in the world’s poor countries — are blessed with parks, private gardens or even street trees in sufficient numbers.
Miyawaki Akira, a plant ecologist at Yorkhama National University, in Japan, has developed a new way to increase unban greening. It is to plant miniature simulacra (微型仿制品) of natural forests in the unpromising abandoned areas. Dr Miyawaki has organised the planting of more than 1, 500 of these miniature forests, first in Japan, then in other parts of the world. Others are following in his footsteps. India is particularly keen. In Mumbai, more than 200,000 trees are found in Miyawaki forests throughout the city. Hyderabad started growing the largest individual forest of the lot in 2020.
The Miyawaki method will never work out on a large scale. Relying on nature and the passage of time is probably the best for replanting extensive areas of damaged woodlands. But if your goal is to better your immediate neighborhood, rather than to save the planet from global warming, then Dr. Miyawaki might well be your man.
1. What do we know from Paragraph 1?| A．Plants are replaced to cool things down. |
| B．Urban areas are becoming pollution hotspots. |
| C．Buildings and roads make residents comfortable. |
| D．Concrete and tarmac reflect heat back into space. |
| A．Plants provide shade for urban residents. | B．Tree coverage needs to be further expanded. |
| C．The situation in urban areas gets steadily worse. | D．Trees cut down chemical pollution from factories. |
| A．It originated from India. | B．It takes effect as expected. |
| C．It makes no difference to Mumbai. | D．It is finding increasing favour. |
| A．A practical strategy to save our planet. | B．A flexible schedule to settle a challenge. |
| C．A partial solution to the lack of urban greening. | D．An effective measure to prevent global warming. |
1. What are the speakers discussing?
| A．The man’s house. | B．The effects of global warming. | C．The man’s job. |
| A．Animals can get more food. |
| B．Green can be seen all year round. |
| C．He lives by the sea. |
| A．Grass. | B．Vegetables. | C．Trees. |
On Saturday, the animal shelter is filled with voices. I can’t see the kitties because I’m blind. I listen hard. Do any of those meows sound like kitten meows?
“I don’t think I hear any kittens (小奶猫), Mom,” I say.
“You’re right, Annie. But there are lots of cats, fat ones, skinny ones…”Mom holds my hand. The shelter director, Mrs. Pat, takes us inside the cat pen. I sit down and stretch out my hands to pet the kitties. A big, warm kitty sits down against my side. “Sammy likes you, Annie. He’s the big one,” Mrs. Pat says.
“I like him, too.” I pet Sammy’s soft, furry coat, his loud purr rumbling under my fingers. “Will Sammy get adopted today?” I ask.
“Maybe,” says Mrs. Pat. “He’s an older kitty, and most people want kittens. But he’s so loving, maybe today will be his turn.”
My mom and I take a pregnant cat, Muffin, home with us. We’ll care for her until she has her kittens. And I can keep one kitten for myself!
One morning, I get a surprise! I can feel soft, mewing little bundles inside the box with Muffin! Mom told me there are six. They’re all about the same size, except for one. He’s big! “Like Sammy,” I say.
“Not quite that big,” Mom says with a laugh.
When I hold them to my cheek, they feel silky and smell sweet and oaty, like a field of summer grass. Their mews are high and tiny.
“So, do you know yet which kitten you’ll keep?” Mom asks me one day.
I bounce on my knees, saying “Oh! How do I choose?”
“Well, try to listen to your heart,” Mom says.
Should it be Jet-Jet, with the long tail? Or Mimi, with the tiny voice? Or should it be Mr. Motor, the one with the humming purr? A purr like Sammy’s, I think. All the kittens are fun. But which is the right one?
On Monday, the shelter is quiet. I still can’t decide which one to keep. Mom asks me to stay in the cat room and pick my kitty while she takes care of the paperwork with Mrs. Pat.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
I sit down and open the carrier.
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When Mom and Mrs. Pat come back, Sammy is sleeping in my lap.
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4 . Since the rise in car ownership in the 1950s, the US has started building roads in cities and across the country to provide enough room for automobiles. Houston, like many cities, is turning back the clock to make room for passers-by, cyclists and parks.
Memorial Park in Houston, Texas was halved by the Memorial Drive Highway in the1950s. It has now been reunited. The highway is still there, but the road goes underneath the 1,500-acre park.
The restoration (修复) of Memorial Park is part of a larger plan that was made after the city suffered from a serious drought. It was thought that 80 percent of the forested canopy (树冠) was dead. One of the ways to fight that was to reintroduce native plants and animals.
The city hired the landscape architectural company, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, to work with the Houston parks and the Memorial Parks Conservancy. The architects, led by Woltz, were inspired by wildlife crossings in the Northwest US and explored the possibility of using this idea in Memorial Park. Over the years, the park was cut into 20 pieces that were divided by highways, roads and parking lots. The only crossing was a 12-foot bridge.
After 10 years of planning and constructing, the Kinder Land Bridge officially opened in early February, 2023. The bridge consists of 100 acres of greenery, and while designed for people, has reconnected wildlife corridors (廊道). The reconstruction added 45 acres of native Gulf Coast prairie (草原) that’ll increase biodiversity in the park. “This project is not just about creating a passage or a bridge. This project is about ecology, it’s about biodiversity and water management. This project is a bridge into Houston’s future.” said Shellye Arnold, president of the Memorial Park Conservancy.
1. What led to the restoration of the Memorial Park?| A．A company’s suggestion. | B．A terrible natural disaster. |
| C．The demand from the public. | D．The recovery of native plants. |
| A．They knew how to restore the Memorial Park. |
| B．They got the inspiration for rescuing animals. |
| C．They gained a sense of achievement for working. |
| D．They developed a new way to protect the landscape. |
| A．It is about 12 feet in length. | B．Its aim is to save water. |
| C．It benefits the wild animals. | D．Its birth is a short process. |
| A．A Highway Connects a Park in Houston |
| B．The Importance of Building Land Bridges |
| C．Efforts to Restore Parks in American Cities |
| D．Houston Creates a Creative Way to Restore Nature |
5 . Last summer, I was sent to take photos that could communicate the urgency of climate change in northern Canada. When I arrived at an abandoned village on Resolute Bay, I scanned the shore with my camera. Suddenly, I spotted a bear lying on the ground. It didn’t move for almost an hour. But when it finally stood up, I had to catch my breath. The bear’s once strong body was just skin and bones; every step that it took was painfully slow.
When I posted the photos on social media, I wrote, “This is what starvation may look like. I wonder whether the global population of 25, 000 polar bears would die the way this bear is dying.”
I did not say that this particular bear was killed by climate change. But news organizations around the world focused on it. The first line of the story published in National Geographic read, “This is what climate change looks like” — with “climate change” highlighted in yellow. Other news agencies even adopted more dramatic headlines.
It was estimated that my photos had been read by about 2.5 billion people around the world. But there was a problem: Most people and the news agencies didn’t recognize or misunderstood the real message I tried to send with them. Many people expressed gratitude that I’d provided shocking evidence on climate change, while others who are still trying to deny the existence of climate change charged me with spreading false information.
Perhaps I had made a mistake in not telling the full story — that I was looking for pictures that might foretell the future and that I didn’t know what had happened to this particular polar bear.
I can’t say that this bear was starving because of climate change, but I am happy that my photos have moved the conversation about climate change to the forefront, where it must remain until this problem is solved.
Until then, when I come across a scene like this one, I will again share with the world — and take pains to be sure that my intention is clear.
1. How did the author feel when the bear stood up?| A．Shocked. | B．Scared. | C．Excited. | D．Relieved. |
| A．The story. | B．The photo. | C．A starving bear. | D．Climate change. |
| A．Provide more direct evidence on climate change. |
| B．Show the link between the bear and climate change. |
| C．Warn the possible results of climate change. |
| D．Expose the false information about climate change. |
| A．To admit his mistake. | B．To clarify his true intention. |
| C．To please his readers. | D．To show off his amazing trip. |
6 . To create “Washed Up: Transforming a Trashed Landscape”. Alejandro Duran gathers plastic trash that is washed up on the beaches of Sian Karan, Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve. The site is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Yet every day, plastic pollution from around the world is washed up onto its shores. These materials inspired Duran to create a series of environmental art pieces, which he re-cords with photos and videos.
Duran was born in Mexico City and is now based in Brooklyn. He said that he had been collecting materials and creating photographs for the past five years, and the work was ongoing. “The project will tell me when to stop.”
Each piece can convey a vastly different mood, from the calm greens of soda bottles to the playful rainbows of toothbrushes. “I’m making art,” said Duran. “It comes from the context and my moods. You can’t say only something dark.” The work reflects and plays with natural forms, exploring how humans influence the environment. The colorful and playful images can be much attention-grabbing. “Beauty is a hook (钩子) to attract people’s attention,” said Duran.
In addition to promoting awareness of the plastic pollution problem, Duran is also involved in educational programs and helps to organize beach clean-ups. He has also made a study of the types of products that are washed ashore in Sian Ka’an, and has identified objects from 50 different countries. Although there’s no way to know where or how these objects were dropped into the sea, their labels show the global nature of the problem.
1. What does Alejandro Duran do with the trash?| A．He moves it away. | B．He collects and burns it. |
| C．He turns it into a form of art. | D．He puts it together for people to see. |
| A．He will stop the project soon. | B．It’s hard to carry on the project. |
| C．He will go on with the project. | D．The project is important to him. |
| A．recycle the trash | B．change his career |
| C．clean up the beach | D．raise public awareness of pollution |
| A．Plastic pollution in the ocean. |
| B．An artist creating environmental art. |
| C．The global nature of the pollution problem. |
| D．Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve. |
7 . Honeybees are in trouble. While they’ re crucial for promoting biodiversity and producing food for healthy human diets, honeybees face many threats, including habitat loss, climate change, air pollution and disease-causing organisms.
But now, there’s hope for helping honeybees fight back against one of the many stressors they face, a deadly infectious disease known as American foulbrood. To fight the disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved for use the world’s first honeybee vaccine (疫苗), developed by Dalan Animal Health.
Bacteria called Paenibacillus larvae cause American foulbrood, which kills honeybees while they are in the pupal (蛹的) or pre-pupal stage. Until now, there was no “safe and sustainable” way to prevent American foulbrood. The only treatment involved antibiotics (抗生素), which are expensive, have limited effectiveness and take lots of time and energy for beekeepers to apply. To stop the spread, beekeepers are often forced to burn infected bees. That makes the vaccine a game changer.
“Our vaccine is a breakthrough in protecting honeybees,” says Annette Kleiser, CEO of Dalan Animal Health. “We are ready to change how we care for insects, impacting food production on a global level.”
Beekeepers will mix the vaccine, which contains dead P. larvae bacteria cells, into the food that worker bees eat. Then, when the worker bees produce their milky royal jelly (蜂王浆), the queen will eat it and the vaccine. Then, the vaccine will protect her developing offspring from the disease.
Under a conditional license from the USDA, Dalan Animal Health now plans to distribute limited amounts of the vaccine to commercial beekeepers. From there, they hope to offer it for sale throughout the U.S. sometime this year.
The federal agriculture agency awards conditional licenses to products that meet an emergency, situation, limited market, local situation or special circumstance. The USDA requires products that receive these types of licenses to be pure and safe, and have a reasonable expectation of effectiveness. Generally, conditional licenses come with restrictions and cover a limited period of time. Once that period ends, the agency evaluates the product’s effectiveness to determine whether to renew the conditional license or award a regular product license.
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．To stress the importance of honeybees. |
| B．To lead to the topic of the passage. |
| C．To list the threats honeybees face. |
| D．To arouse readers’ interest. |
| A．Because it has changed the way we care for insects. |
| B．Because it’s the only treatment for American foulbrood. |
| C．Because it breaks through the limitations of the former treatment. |
| D．Because the previous treatment has no effectiveness. |
| A．Queen bees. | B．Worker bees. |
| C．Adult bees. | D．Young bees. |
| A．They promote the commercial success of honeybee vaccine. |
| B．They guarantee the full effectiveness of products. |
| C．They can be renewed with no strings attached. |
| D．They are in effect within a period of time. |
Jane Brown sat carefully putting papers into a folder. She had been at the Gateway Nature Center’s office all morning and was tired of filing. She wanted desperately to work with the animals. She had been a weekend volunteer that whole school year and had done extensive research, reading books and websites on natural history. But her mom, who was the assistant director of the center, said Jane was still too young.
Suddenly, the quiet was broken by Amy bursting in. She had been a volunteer a bit longer than Jane and wandered around like she owned the place. “Hurry up, Jane,” she ordered. Jane willed herself to remain still and just smiled back.
Just then, Jane’s mother rushed into the room with Mr. White, the manager. “The hurricane is now approaching the Gulf Shore Preserve,” Mrs. Brown reported. “It needs help preparing for it. I have to go down there with the staff. We’ll take the bridge, so we shouldn’t be gone long. I need you girls to help Mr. White get the storm shutters (护窗) down in the aviary (鸟舍). Then, stay inside with Mr. White. Call me on my cellphone if there’re any problems,” Mrs. Brown directed as she rushed out. Jane was excited to have an opportunity to help the birds.
Amy announced she was now “in charge”. Jane smiled again, saying nothing. Mr. White and the girls worked quickly and were soon back inside. But when Mr. White called Jane’s mother, a worried expression crossed his face. “A storm has flooded the bridge, and they’re stuck there. Also, the storm is heading our way,” he said. Amy was frightened. After silently considering for a few seconds, Jane said calmly, “We should move the birds to the reptile house (爬行动物馆). It’s on higher ground.” Mr. White and Amy nodded. They rushed out of the building. Once inside the aviary, Jane watched Amy lunge (猛冲) from cage to cage.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1.
Jane told Amy not to jump around so much because the birds would be scared by her sudden movements.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2.
After several hours, the storm stopped, and Mrs. Brown was able to return to the center.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sticking together was always important to my family — especially after my dad left us. I didn’t always talk to my mom about my feelings, because she was busy tending our farm. I talked to my sister, Alana, and I talked to Sister Belle — that’s what we called our cow. She was definitely part of my family, and we loved her very much.
Later on, as we needed to move, we had to sell our farm and all the animals, including Sister Belle. We wanted her to go to someone who would love her like we did, and we thought it was an answer to our hope when a man called. He told he could only pay 300 dollars, but that he had lots of pasture (牧场) and a large barn (畜棚). That afternoon, we went to his place. It looked really nice, and we were happy that we had found the right home for Sister Belle.
The next day we delivered Sister Belle to her new owner. I could feel tears stinging my eyes, but I convinced myself that Sister Belle would be better off in her new home.
A week later, while we were having our moving sale, a neighbor came up telling us she had seen our cow before the cow went to auction (拍卖会). My mom couldn’t believe it and asked who was sell ng the cow. When knowing who it was, I felt sick. We had trusted him, and just a week later he was selling Sister Belle away to make a profit!
We drove to his house. When he answered the door, mom told him what the neighbor had said and he shut the door right in our faces. Alana was crying, and my mom was begging him to sell Sister Belle back to us. But he wouldn’t open the door.
Back home, my mother started calling a lot of auctions and finally found one that had a record of our cow, and told us the cow would be auctioned off the next morning.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The next day we arrived at the auction early.
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Therefore, we decided to join in the auction.
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10 . Pictures of the bird called the red siskin appear on Venezuela’s money, on products and in school books.
But the small song bird is disappearing from the wild. It has become the victim of reducing forests and hunters who want to sell their bright red feathers. That threat has brought together an international team. They hope to save the bird. The plan is to have farmers plant organic coffee plants which are covered with branches that make good nesting places for the birds.
Once found in the millions, as few as 300 red siskins remain in Venezuela. “They don’t have many years left, unless we do something right now,” said Miguel Arvelo.
Fanners who meet the project’s rules will win the right to sell their beans with “Bird Friendly” labels. They will be able to set prices for such “high quality” products that can be five times higher than legal prices set by the government.
The male siskin is valued for its red feathers and black head. Breeders cross them with yellow pet birds to create babies with colourful feathers. Protection under Venezuelan law has not prohibited hunters from catching the birds to sell on an illegal international market. Poor Venezuelan families often catch and sell the birds. The money they receive can feed their children for months, said biologist Jhonathan Miranda.
At the same time, a red siskin breeding centre is being built at a private zoo in Venezuela. There, 200 birds are expected to be born next year. Scientists keep the places where the birds live a secret to protect them from hunters. They permitted some reporters to photograph a small number of birds at one of those secret places. Twelve or more of the small, red birds flew into sight just as the sun appeared.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen so many birds together,” said Miranda. “It gives us hope.”
1. What do Miguel’s words in the third paragraph suggest?| A．The red siskins can’t live longer. | B．It is urgent to save the red siskins. |
| C．Organic coffee plants will die soon. | D．Coffee farmers do the right thing now. |
| A．To make them plant less coffee crops. | B．To increase their coffee production. |
| C．To provide red siskins with good habitats. | D．To allow some sunshine into the coffee fields. |
| A．They produce coffee beans of high quality. | B．They have a ban on their coffee planting. |
| C．They enjoy the right to feed birds with beans. | D．They can sell their coffee at a higher price. |
| A．Saving red siskins by planting coffee plants | B．Helping Venezuelans plant more coffee crops |
| C．Preserving the endangered species in Venezuela | D．Building a breeding centre for red siskins |
