1. What will the weather be like near the ocean this weekend?
| A．Windy. | B．Snowy. | C．Sunny |
| A．Traveling to the coast. |
| B．Staying inside. |
| C．Playing in the snow. |
| A．Temperatures could be very low. |
| B．Roads may become dangerous. |
| C．People might lose electricity. |
| A．On Tuesday. | B．On Friday. | C．On Saturday. |
Each year more than 3 million people visit Rocky Mountain National Park, the third most-visited national park in the USA. Many of them arrive there by car, they drive along the Trail Ridge Road, which
People are attracted by its scenery, hiking trails and wildlife. The hiking trails include
Long hikes give visitors a chance to experience Rocky Mountain wildlife. Within the park
The
3 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What makes Jessica Damiano kill houseplants?| A．Carelessness. | B．Forgetfulness. | C．Laziness. |
| A．It needs enough sunlight. |
| B．It is unsuitable for beginners. |
| C．It likes being far from a window. |
| A．Characters of houseplants. |
| B．Ways to save water at home. |
| C．Advice on growing houseplants. |
4 . The world is warming up and humans are the cause, and that means it’s up to us to stop it. The burning of oil and coal is one huge cause, and clean energy (能源) sources are needed greatly if we’re going to make any meaningful changes. But where is all of this clean energy going to come from? Denmark seems to have an idea.
In Europe, Denmark provides more oil than any other country, but that’s going to change. The country has promised to stop oil production within the next 30 years, but that means it’s going to need to get its energy from somewhere else. To that end, Denmark has planned to build a man-made island off its coast.
As Fast Company reports, the plan will include the building of the island itself as well as up to 600 wind turbines (涡轮机) to pick up ocean winds and change them into electricity (电). The island will have a size of 20 football fields and will have turbines around it and send power to huge batteries (电池) that can store power for whenever it’s needed. All told, the island should be able to provide power for as many as three million homes, but as more batteries are added, that stored power could be provided for even more homes and businesses.
“The island is expected to cost about $34 billion, which is really a lot of money. However, as countries begin to use more green energy, the ones that produce more of it will have the chance to sell it to other countries. As oil and coal burning is not allowed worldwide, those that don’t produce enough green energy might be forced to buy up power from their greener neighbors,” said Fast Company.
1. Which of the following words can best describe Denmark’s action?| A．Worrying. | B．Brave. | C．Responsible. | D．Confusing |
| A．An energy center. | B．A living center. |
| C．A research center. | D．A tour center. |
| A．The project will get paid back in the long run. |
| B．The project will attract more countries’ attention. |
| C．They have collected enough money for the project. |
| D．They need other countries’help to finish the project. |
| A．Denmark will become a greener country. |
| B．Denmark is going to stop providing oil. |
| C．Denmark will sell its green energy to other countries. |
| D．Denmark will build a man-made island to produce energy |
5 . Blowing Up Balloons with CO₂
Chemical reactions (化学反应) make for some great experiments. You can make use of the CO₂(carbon dioxide) given off by a baking soda (小苏打) and lemon juice reaction to blow up your balloon!
What you’ll need:
●Balloon ●About 40ml of water ●Soft drink bottle
●Juice from a lemon ●I teaspoon of baking soda
Instructions:
●Before you begin, make sure that you pull the balloon long to make it as easy as possible to blow up.
●Put the 40ml of water into the soft drink bottle.
●Add the baking soda and mix it with water.
●Put the lemon juice in and quickly put the balloon over the mouth of the bottle.
What’s happening?
If all goes well, then your balloon should inflate! Adding the lemon juice to the baking soda creates a chemical reaction and produces CO₂. The gas rises up and escapes (逸出) through the soft drink bottle. It doesn’t, however, escape the balloon, pushing it outwards and blowing it up.
1. Which of the following do you need for the experiment?| A．Two cups. | B．Apple juice. |
| C．250 ml water. | D．A teaspoon of baking soda. |
| A．Heat the water. | B．Drink some juice. |
| C．Blow up the balloon. | D．Pull the balloon long. |
| A．To describe an experiment. | B．To introduce a game. |
| C．To produce soft drinks. | D．To save some chemicals. |
6 . A newly published study on frogs and malaria (疟疾) shows how closely human health may be influenced by these lovable creatures. In the 1980s, scientists in Costa Rica and Panama began to notice a quiet and dramatic decline in frog numbers. Frogs in this part of the world were falling prey to a deadly fungal pathogen (真菌病原体), and they were doing so at such a rapid rate that researchers at the time feared a wave of local extinctions.
Some scientists now argue the fungal pathogen has caused the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity to a disease ever. And it is responsible for significant declines in at least 501 amphibian (两栖类的) species, including 90 extinctions, from Asia to South America.
Frogs directly influence mosquito population sizes because mosquitoes are a key source of food, which means the numbers of amphibians could ultimately influence the vectors that spread deadly human diseases.
Comparing an amphibian decline map and malaria occurrence map between 1976 and 2016, researchers found a clear pattern that could be predicted with high accuracy and confidence by their model.
In the eight years after great amphibian losses from fungal pathogen, there was an increase in malaria cases equal to about 1 extra case per 1,000 people. This extra case would probably not have come about without the recent amphibian die-off. In a usual outbreak of malaria, occurrence rates usually peak from about 1.1-1.5 cases per 1,000 people. This means a loss of amphibians in Central America could have possibly driven a 70-90 percent increase in how many people were getting sick.
As you read this, the fungal pathogen is taking a ride around the world with global trade, and it threatens not just the future of amphibians but the health of our own species. As the current study reveals, frogs and human health often go hand-in-hand. We’re stuck together whether we like it or not.
1. What happened in the 1980s?| A．Malaria broke out in Costa Rica and Panama. |
| B．A wave of local extinctions occurred in Costa Rica. |
| C．The frogs decreased greatly in Costa Rica and Panama. |
| D．Scientists made a new invention in Costa Rica and Panama. |
| A．Declines. | B．Mosquitoes. | C．Amphibians. | D．Patterns. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Objective. | C．Optimistic. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．We should protect some lovable animals from dying off. |
| B．The number of frogs may have an effect on human health. |
| C．Human diseases are closely related to heavy losses of amphibians. |
| D．Scientists find the close connection between frogs and mosquitoes. |
7 . Explorer Lucy Shepherd and her team completed a 253-mile walk across the Amazon’s Kanuku Mountains in 50 days.
She said she
Ms. Shepherd
For 17 days of the mission the group travelled without seeing
“It was a
“The Kanuku Mountains are
Ms Shepherd’s next journey is to
| A．found | B．met | C．ate | D．caught |
| A．trick | B．shoot | C．escape | D．hunt |
| A．took on | B．gave up | C．thought about | D．fought for |
| A．need | B．ability | C．potential | D．freedom |
| A．clouds | B．rocks | C．sunlight | D．water |
| A．came in | B．broke down | C．set off | D．turned over |
| A．make | B．follow | C．watch | D．guide |
| A．smooth | B．dangerous | C．pleasant | D．favorable |
| A．received | B．prepared | C．achieved | D．expected |
| A．incredible | B．imaginable | C．possible | D．reliable |
| A．destruction | B．development | C．change | D．beauty |
| A．shame | B．reward | C．regret | D．fear |
| A．facing | B．reducing | C．surviving | D．resisting |
| A．improve | B．protect | C．support | D．threaten |
| A．occupy | B．defend | C．explore | D．locate |
8 . Cell phones, tablets, laptops, smart-watches: the modern world is packed with a lot of devices that bring us connectivity, entertainment and information. Our hunger for the latest models leads to the “throwaway” culture, which means consumers often throw away old devices as soon as new ones come to the market, a habit that can have a significant effect on waste streams and the environment.
With concerns about e-waste growing, some companies are now turning to chemistry to develop solutions to recycle items like old cell phones, extracting value at the same time. One such example is the work being carried out by Mint Innovation, a clean tech firm based in Auckland, New Zealand. “We’ve developed a biological process for recovering valuable metals from electronic waste,” said Ollie Crush, the company’s chief scientific officer.
Crush explained that Mint Innovation’s system included grinding(磨碎)waste up into a powder. “The reason why we must do this is that we need to make sure that we’re exposing all the metal contained within to a chemical filtering(过滤)process,” he added.
When it comes to recovering a valuable material like gold, the technique used by Mint Innovation has a number of steps. According to a video, chemicals dissolve (溶解) the powdered waste into a solution, with any materials that haven’t dissolved filtered out. Microbes are then added to the mix. Gold atoms catch on to them in a process called “selective biosorption”. Next, the microbes coated gold are filtered, producing a paste which is then turned into a solid, “recycled” gold.
“Nearly 50% of the value of e-waste comes from the gold,” Cameron Weber, a senior lecturer at Chemical Sciences, said. “In fact, there’s actually more gold in e-waste as a concentration than there is in gold that’s been mined, which shows you the value of being able to take your e-waste and recycle and reuse some of the elements that are found in it,” he added.
Looking ahead, Crush, explained the process could potentially have a number of interesting applications. “The future for Mint Innovation is to prove that our technology works with a number of different materials,” he said. “So, we’ll just keep trying to see where our microbial process makes more sense.”
1. What is Mint Innovation trying to do?| A．To develop eco-friendly products. | B．To change the “throwaway culture”. |
| C．To collect harmful things in e-waste. | D．To get valuable things from e-waste. |
| A．Mixing e-waste with gold. | B．Reusing elements of e-waste. |
| C．Turning e-waste into tiny pieces. | D．Exposing e-waste to special chemicals. |
| A．The ways of dealing with e-waste. | B．The necessity of reducing e-waste. |
| C．The difficulty of recycling e-waste. | D．The meaning of recycling e-waste. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
9 . Cats don’t live by the rules, and spend most of their time just doing what they want. For the cat owner Zack King, his cat Billy’s life was enigmatic. Free-spirited felines(猫类) who like to spend time outdoors are often gone for hours at a time, leaving their owners wondering where they’ve been or what they’ve been up to. However, King soon discovered that his beloved cat was serving as a “postcat”.
Billy comes and goes as he pleases through a cat door. One day in October, when Billy was inside, King noticed a folded piece of paper covered in a plastic wrap in his collar. King carefully unwrapped it and was surprised to find a note from his neighbors. “Your cat likes to come to visit us when he is outside,” it read. “He will sit at the door and run into our house. We have no idea where he comes from. He always wants people to give him lots of scratches(挠痒). What’s his name? Does he have an owner?”
King wrote a note back, attached it to Billy’s collar, and hoped it would make it to the original sender. “We’re so glad he’s making friends with the neighbors,” it read. “His name is Billy.” It wasn’t long before Billy came back with another note, and now months later, the neighbors are still pen friends. “We both like watching movies online and cooking at home,” King said. “We have no idea what the neighbors look like. We could ask for details but there’s no need—it’s nice to have some privacy sometimes.”
“I was frustrated as the nights got colder and darker. Billy is spending more time indoors and sweet exchanges have become less frequent,” he says. “To be honest, a closed door and a sensitive alarm can ensure the safety of our houses. But they can prevent neighbors from having healthy friendships. To break the ice, we just need a cat and a note.”
1. What does the underlined word “enigmatic” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Mysterious. | B．Boring. | C．Tough. | D．Ordinary. |
| A．To know the identity of the cat. | B．To express his dislike of the cat. |
| C．To express his thanks for the cat. | D．To ask King to take the cat back. |
| A．King has met with his neighbors before. |
| B．King hopes to thank the neighbors in person. |
| C．King shares common hobbies with his neighbors. |
| D．King has communicated with his neighbors online. |
| A．We should make friends with neighbors. |
| B．We should ensure the safety of our houses. |
| C．We should respect the privacy of neighbors. |
| D．We should keep pets to stay safe and healthy. |
10 . For most of human history, the stars shone brightly in a dark night sky. But today, cities and towns, increasingly lit by artificial light at night, dramatically reduce the visibility of stars.
Satellite data suggests that light pollution has been increasing in many parts of the world over the last decade. However, satellites miss the blue light of LEDs (发光的二极管), which are commonly used for outdoor lighting, resulting in an underestimate of light pollution.
An international citizen science project called Globe at Night (环球夜景) aims to measure how everyday people’s view of the sky is changing. The data shows that the night sky got, on average, 9.6% brighter every year. For many people, the night sky today is twice as bright as it was eight years ago. The brighter the sky, the fewer stars you can see. If this trend continues, a child born today in a place where 250 stars are visible now would only be able to see 100 stars on his/her 18th birthday.
The main factors leading to increasing brightness of the night sky are industrialization and the growing use of LEDs for outdoor lighting. The loss of dark skies threatens our ability as astronomers to do good science. But everyday people feel this loss too. Starry night skies have inspired artists, writers, musicians and philosophers for thousands of years. Light pollution also has a bad effect on the daily cycle of light and dark that plants and animals use to adjust their lifestyle. Two-thirds of the world’s key biodiversity (生物多样性) areas are affected by light pollution.
Individuals and their communities can make simple changes to reduce light pollution. The secret is using the right amount of light, in the right place and at the right time. Making outdoor lights shine downward, using lights that give out more yellow-colored light instead of white light and putting on light timers can all help reduce light pollution. A view of about 2,500 stars in a truly dark sky might convince you that dark skies are a resource worth saving.
1. How is the first paragraph mainly developed?| A．By giving an example. | B．By making a comparison. |
| C．By reaching a conclusion. | D．By raising a question. |
| A．The light pollution is getting more serious. |
| B．The night sky today gets darker than before. |
| C．It’s difficult to imagine a child’s fast growth. |
| D．LEDs are commonly used for outdoor lighting. |
| A．The bad effects of light pollution. | B．The factors causing light pollution. |
| C．The functions of starry night skies. | D．Key biodiversity areas in the world. |
| A．To explain a phenomenon. | B．To suggest a solution. |
| C．To remember a scientist. | D．To increase public awareness. |
