1 . Have you ever heard of and seen Canadian geese? Do you know that they
Canadian geese have a good
Yesterday I witnessed two Canadian Geese arguing
Would they start quarreling again? I stood still,
They got along harmoniously again. Sometimes it’s not that bad to be
| A．draw on | B．focus on | C．feed on | D．try on |
| A．desire | B．reputation | C．affection | D．appetite |
| A．generous | B．faithful | C．weird | D．rude |
| A．well-informed | B．well-dressed | C．well-behaved | D．well-balanced |
| A．fiercely | B．blindly | C．cautiously | D．gently |
| A．deserted | B．located | C．fixed | D．laid |
| A．frequent | B．rare | C．common | D．constant |
| A．restricting | B．changing | C．pausing | D．speeding |
| A．desperate | B．simple | C．serious | D．disharmonious |
| A．frightened | B．annoyed | C．crashed | D．injured |
| A．finding out | B．dealing with | C．looking into | D．wondering about |
| A．passion | B．reason | C．talent | D．anxiety |
| A．scene | B．destination | C．landscape | D．park |
| A．looker-on | B．passer-by | C．truck | D．clump |
| A．upset | B．forgetful | C．mean | D．greedy |
2 . It could be said that trees naturally call for attention as they climb toward the sky with their arms outstretched. Yet, it’s still easy for us to ignore them. As we rush through our own day-to-day lives, trees seem to play the role of an insignificant backdrop.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Rooted to a single spot, trees appear sill.But that stillness is not associated with laziness. In fact, trees are guards of the planet as the impact of their hard work carries miles farther than the ground in which they stand.
Globally, trees are the most cost-effective tool in promoting biodiversity. They support the survival of a significant number of animals. For example, a big reason why ring-tailed lemurs (狐猴) are endangered is that half of the forests they depend on in Madagascar off the East coast of Africa were cut down.
Not only do animals depend on trees for shelter, trees are significant to the health of humans as well. In fact, doctors in Canada are so convinced of trees’ benefits for the mind and body that they recommend patients visit national parks. Trees help a lot in tackling climate change too. They absorb and store carbon dioxide(CO2) — the key greenhouse gas emitted by our cars and power plants — before it has a chance to reach the upper atmosphere and trap heat around the Earth’s surface.
So it’s time to put trees in the spotlight. The Arbor Day Foundation, the world’s largest nonprofit, is devoted to this exact mission: inspiring people to plant,protect, and honor trees. We know there’s never been a more important time for trees. And we know there’s never been a more important time for mankind to engage in its role as environmental guards. This isn’t a one-sided relationship. What we give to nature we will receive in return, tenfold (十倍地). So as springtime arrives once again, take a moment and appreciate what a tree can be.
1. What does the author mainly want to tell us by giving the example of ring-tailed lemurs?| A．Trees are insignificant for their stillness. |
| B．Trees play a vital role in cleaning the air. |
| C．Trees provide critical habitats for creatures. |
| D．Half of the forests in Madagascar were cut down. |
| A．To provide advice on planting trees. |
| B．To call for human attention to trees. |
| C．To show the best time of planting trees. |
| D．To stress the impact of trees on humans. |
1=Paragraph One 2= Paragraph Two 3= Paragraph Three 4= Paragraph Four 5=Paragraph Five
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Trees: Cleaners of the Environment | B．Trees: Shelters for Creatures |
| C．Trees: Defenders of Human Health | D．Trees: Guards of the Planet |
3 . China’s space industry has made great achievements, which makes us occupy a place in the world space field. After 11 years, China has finally completed its Tiangong space station with the docking (对接) its Mengtian lab module, establishing the Tiangong as the second operational space station apart from the US-led, multinational International Space Station.
On November 1, the Mengtian lab module, the third and final part of its Tiangong space station docked with the core Tianhe module 13 hours after being launched. Next, the Tianhe and Mengtian modules will dock with the Wentian lab module, completing Tiangong’s T-shaped basic structure. The 17.88-meter-long, 23-ton Mengtian module is the heaviest operational single-cabin (舱) active spacecraft in orbit. Mengtian consists of a work cabin, a goods airlock cabin, a payload cabin and resource cabin. In addition, it has eight scientific experiment rooms and 37 extravehicular (舱外的) installation (安装) options.
One of the more ambitious aims of China’s space program is to position the country as a leading provider of space-based international public goods and services, such as planetary defense. Last month, Asia Times reported about China’s plans to conduct its first asteroid (行星) direction-changing test in 2025 or 2026. China has also taken pioneering steps in Mar exploration. A good example is the completion of China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission. China has also stated that it is willing to share scientific data from its Tianwen-l mission at an appropriate time and that scientists are welcome to apply for research over the data.
Moreover, China has also announced plans to send men to the moon, helping its future settlement and economic use. And China and Russia plan to establish a permanent moon base by 2027. The base, the International Lunar Research Station, is seen as an experimental complex designed for multiple scientific activities.
Reflecting China’s open-door space policy, the Tiangong is designed to be “inclusive” and adaptable for foreign astronauts.
1. Which statement is true about the Mengtian module according to the text?| A．It has docked with the Wentian lab module. |
| B．It is an significant part of Tiangong space station. |
| C．It is made up of four scientific experiment cabins. |
| D．It is heavier than all the other single-cabin spaceships. |
| A．To present a fact. | B．To explain a rule. |
| C．To clarify a concept. | D．To make a prediction. |
| A．By sending men to the settlement of the moon. |
| B．By providing clear photos of the planet’s surface. |
| C．By sharing scientific data from its Tianwen-1 mission. |
| D．By setting up a moon base for multiple scientific activities. |
| A．International Space Station Suffers Wear and Tear |
| B．Side by Side, China Works with UN Member States |
| C．Step by Step, China Finds Its Footing in Outer Space |
| D．Tiangong Space Station Is Established Little by Little |
4 . Discover Jiangsu
Known as the land of water, China’s coastal province of Jiangsu has all the geographical advantages to give it a starring role in the epic (史诗般的) tale of China’s ancient Maritime (海上的) Silk Road. With busy port cities, historic sites and breathtaking natural beauty, Jiangsu is the perfect place to follow the story of this remarkable trade route.
Nanjing and the voyages of Zheng He
At the beginning of the Ming dynasty, the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu was declared capital of China. Besides building one of the longest city walls in history, the emperor ordered the construction of vast “treasure ships” in 1403. Under Zheng He’s command, the ships finished seven epic ocean voyages, reaching as far as the east coast of Africa.
Nantong and overseas trade
In Jiangsu’s port city of Nantong, goods have flowed in and out of the province by water for centuries. Beyond Lusi Port Town, a busy seascape of boats travel on the waters of Jiangsu’s coast. It’s a scene that shows how China’s historic Maritime Silk Road remains successful until this day.
Yancheng and unspoiled nature
Salt was one of the commodities (商品) that played a key role in the history of trade in Jiangsu, contributing to the wealth of the province. A major source was the tidal (潮汐的) salt flats of Yancheng, which literally means “salt city”. This remarkable landscape also plays host to some rare bird species like cranes, egrets, and spoonbill sandpipers.
Yangzhou and the spread of Buddhism
In the Jiangsu city of Yangzhou, a Tang-dynasty monk by the name of Jianzhen set sail to Japan to spread the teachings of Buddhism. Daming Temple, where Jianzhen lived, can still be visited today.
1. What made Jiangsu an Ancient Gateway to the Maritime Silk Road?| A．Its Buddhist art. | B．Its remarkable seascape. |
| C．Its wealth and power. | D．Its geographical advantages. |
| A．Nanjing. | B．Nantong. | C．Yancheng. | D．Yangzhou. |
| A．A geography magazine. | B．An academic report. |
| C．An economics book. | D．A travel blog. |
1. Which is the highest mountain in this area?
| A．Mount Karen. | B．Mount Heather. | C．Mount Brown. |
| A．Skiing. |
| B．Seeing wildlife. |
| C．Having snowmobile tours. |
| A．A bit cold. | B．Quite cool. | C．Very hot. |
| A．Winter. | B．Autumn. | C．Summer. |
6 . In the last decade, scientists have been going back and forth on one question: does recycling really help the environment? The conclusion at which they have arrived seems to be: yes, it does. However, experts warn that our efforts should not stop there. While recycling is an important part of the solution, it is not necessarily the most important factor. Therefore, I disagree that recycling is the key to a sustainable (可持续的) future.
Compared to other methods to save the earth, recycling is a much smaller player. According to a recent study, the twenty top petrochemical (石化) companies in the world are responsible for 55% of the world’s single-use plastics, most of which are practically impossible to recycle. This means that asking these major polluters to take responsibility for their harm to the environment would do much more than if every one of us recycled our waste. In addition, a dependence on recycling can take attention away from reducing and reusing, which are more effective in lowering emissions (排放) and in turn helping to create a sustainable future. Therefore, it would do us a lot of good if we focus on these other high-priority solutions rather than simply recycling.
Recycling supporters may argue that recycling is indeed the key to a sustainable future because it helps save a lot of energy by taking what already exists and changing it into something new. While it is true that recycling is a valuable tool in the fight against climate change, it is not the key. Regrettably, it alone is not sufficient. So, while we should continue recycling, we need to go further by taking other actions for our planet.
To conclude, I disagree that recycling is the key to a sustainable future. Having said that, recycling is still beneficial. It is but a small part of an interconnected web of solutions, which on its own can not accomplish much, but together with other efforts, can create a sustainable future for all.
1. Why does the author write this article?| A．To raise a question. | B．To explain a rule. |
| C．To present a solution. | D．To express an idea. |
| A．Stopping using plastics. | B．Individuals recycling their waste. |
| C．Using fewer high-emission cars. | D．Changing used things into something new. |
| A．It can only save 45% of the energy people need. |
| B．It does not help with protecting the environment. |
| C．It stops major polluters from taking responsibility. |
| D．It plays a small and limited part in sustaining the earth. |
| A．Combined efforts of all the solutions. |
| B．More and more people joining in recycling. |
| C．Reducing and reusing of single-use plastics. |
| D．Asking petrochemical companies to be responsible. |
7 . Rachel Carson’s classic best seller about ecological threats, Silent Spring, started a wave of American environmentalism. It played a direct role in the 1972 decision to ban the use of the pesticide(杀虫剂)DDT. Sixty years ago, the public was introduced to Carson’s arguments. The coming anniversary makes this a good time to consider whether the book achieved one of her major goals: protecting wildlife and, in particular, birds.
Carsen took a complex technical subject — the damaging effects of persistent pesticide and expressed it in one simple, poetic image: a spring in which no birds sang. She asked us to imagine what it would be like to awaken in the morning in a world without these songs. She wrote with grace, and she made us feel the loss. But how well have we acted on Carson’s warnings?
With some exceptions, we haven’t been very successful, and neither have birds. Twenty-nine percent of North American birds have died out since 1970, Grass lands were the hardest hit, with a documented loss of more than 700 million breeding individuals. The number of dead birds totaled nearly three billion, a figure that sparked(引起) a campaign with tips on what people can do to save them. Given these data, it is easy to conclude that despite the brilliance of her writing, Carson did not succeed in protecting birds.
Still, the 2019 bird study, despite its worrying results, also suggests that protecting biodiversity is not lost cause. One important exception is wet lands, where bird abundance increased by 13 percent. The other animative exception is bald eagles, which acre on the edge of extinction at the time Carson wrote, but they recovered in large part as a result of the ban on DDT. A news story published by the Au dub on Society notes that “the numbers show that taking steps like wildlife management, habitat restoration and political action can be effective to save species.”
1. How did Rachel Carson fulfill her writing purpose in her book?| A．By warning gracefully. | B．By arguing simply. |
| C．By thinking critically. | D．By drawing vividly, |
| A．Alarming. | B．Encouraging |
| C．Reliable | D．Imaginable. |
| A．Negative. | B．Objective. |
| C．Positive. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．An American writer didn’t fulfill her promise. |
| B．Our efforts to protect the environment were in vain. |
| C．Books have limitations in raising environmental awareness. |
| D．Birds are still in trouble 60 years after Silent Spring warned us. |
8 . Yellow flower carpeted fields are a sure sign of summer. In Denmark alone, more than 200,000 hectares of rapeseed (油菜籽) are planted every year. But until now, the plant has only been used for oil and animal food, as it is both bitter and unsafe for human consumption.
To protect themselves, the rapeseed plants produce a group of substances (物质) called glucosinolates (硫苷), which give the plants a strong and bitter taste that scares off insects and disease. As a result rapeseed is unhealthy to eat and the rapeseed cake, which is the remains of the seeds after the oil has been squeezed out, has only been used as feed for pigs and chickens, despite its 30 — 40 percent protein content.
Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered the three proteins that help to store the bitter substances in seeds of thale cress (阿拉伯芥), a plant closely related to the rapeseed. The new knowledge makes it possible to prevent the accumulation (积聚) of these substances in the seed by removing the proteins through “transport engineering” technology. In doing so, the defensive substances remain in all other parts of the plant, allowing it to continue to defend itself.
So far, the researchers have shown that their method works in thale cress. “The next task is to apply our method to the closely related rapeseed plant, which we are now working on,” says Professor Halkier, leader of the research.
“Half of plant proteins in the EU come from rapeseed. The climate crisis demands that we reduce meat consumption and eat more plants, which is where rapeseed has great potential as a new source of plant protein. Our latest research results bring us a step closer to making full use of rapeseed,” says Professor Halkier.
1. What is the function of paragraph 2?| A．To state the reason. | B．To offer the solution. |
| C．To give an example. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．By selecting better seeds. | B．By removing the three proteins. |
| C．By increasing sweet tastes. | D．By storing defensive substances. |
| A．Researchers’ efforts to better the taste. |
| B．Researchers’ progress in their experiment. |
| C．Rapeseed’s role in relieving climate crisis. |
| D．Rapeseed’s potential as a new protein source. |
| A．Harmful proteins discovered in rapeseed |
| B．Rapeseed widely used as oil and animal food |
| C．Researchers closer to making rapeseed safe food |
| D．New plant protein in rapeseed finally uncovered |
9 . Babusha, or “eight-step sands”, got its name because the desert was always just eight steps away from the farmers’ doors. Today, the desert’s southward movement has been stopped thanks to a green belt planted in the last 40 years by Guo Wangang and his colleagues. As a result, Guo was named a National Moral Model in 2020.
Guo is only part of the second generation of “soldiers” to fight against the desert. His father was one of the six men who first began planting trees in Babusha. When Guo’s father fell ill in 1983, he hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps.
Guo remembers being reluctant to give up his stable government job. “My father repeatedly stressed that we had to make sure our farms weren’t eaten by the desert,” Guo said, adding that he eventually agreed to work at the farm because he didn’t want to see the trees die.
However, it was the deadly sandstorm in 1993 that turned Guo into a determined “soldier”. The fast moving brown wall of dust reached high into the sky and turned day into night. Guo was working in the desert with his colleagues when it hit. They only managed to get home after trekking for six hours in darkness. Later, he learned that 23 students were found dead in a river as they tried to get home from school during the sandstorm.
Since then, Guo and his colleagues have continued planting trees every spring and fall, pruning (修剪) them in winter and watching out for fire. Their struggle continues. Today more and more young people have joined with scientific and innovative methods. For example, the farm now is subsidized (资助) by Ant Forest, a public welfare project launched by the e-commerce giant, Alibaba. It rewards users with virtual energy in exchange for low-carbon activities, which can then be used to do things, like having trees planted.
“We need more such young people to help us find other advanced and engineering methods for desertification control,” said Guo Wangang.
1. What was Guo Wangang’s first reaction to his father’s request?| A．He advised his father to stop planting trees. |
| B．He was unwilling to give up his stable job. |
| C．He immediately agreed to work at the farm. |
| D．He was determined to fight against the desert. |
| A．Finishing the green belt. |
| B．Winning National Moral Model title. |
| C．Seeing his father’s falling ill. |
| D．Experiencing a deadly sandstorm. |
| A．To show young people’s creative methods. |
| B．To advocate the low-carbon way of living. |
| C．To praise Ant Forest’s unique contribution. |
| D．To indicate Guo and his team’s difficulties. |
| A．Well begun is half done. |
| B．One tree doesn’t make a forest. |
| C．Opportunity favours only the prepared mind. |
| D．Nothing is too difficult if you put your heart into it. |
10 . Perhaps one day, robots could be cleaning up human-caused pollution in the ocean. At least that’s what scientists hope to achieve with the development of Jellyfish-Bot (水母机器人), a robotic device which looks like a jellyfish that could help pick up pollutants underwater.
The robot is about the size of a hand. The artificial muscles, called HASELs, can contract and expand, allowing Jellyfish-Bot to move through the water. Like a real jellyfish, the robot’s movements create currents beneath it. Jellyfish use the currents to collect nutrients, while Jellyfish-Bot uses these motions to trap pollutants. The robots move at a speed of 6.1 centimeters per second, trapping objects along the way, whether it’s a single robot or multiple ones working together. With larger objects, it may require at least two robots to collect and bring the items to the surface for recycling.
“It is also able to collect fragile biological samples such as fish eggs. Meanwhile, there is no negative impact on the surrounding environment. The interaction with aquatic (水生的) species is gentle and nearly noise-free,” explained Tianlu Wang, a postdoctoral researcher.
According to the researchers, the robot is no louder than background noise, so it shouldn’t menace sea life. The insulating polymer (绝缘聚合物) shell around the robot shouldn’t harm humans or fish if it were to be torn apart.
For now, the robots are powered by thin wires, which prohibits their practical use in oceanic settings. But the scientists hope that they can achieve a wireless Jellyfish-Bot in the near future.
“Seventy percent of oceanic litter is estimated to sink to the seabed. Plastics make up more than 60% of this litter, taking hundreds of years to degrade. Therefore, we saw an urgent need to develop a robot to move or control objects such as litter and transport it upwards,” Scientist Hyeong-Joon Joo said. “We hope that underwater robots could one day assist in cleaning up our oceans.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The working principle of Jellyfish-Bot. |
| B．The main parts of Jellyfish-Bot. |
| C．The effect of the robot on the ocean. |
| D．The threat of pollutants to the ocean. |
| A．Destroy. | B．Threaten. | C．Transform. | D．Dominate. |
| A．They have been widely used underwater. |
| B．They lack practical use in oceanic settings. |
| C．They will take the place of the wire robots. |
| D．They will be researched and developed for use. |
| A．It’s of great urgency to clean up ocean pollutants |
| B．A new function of robot is just around the corner |
| C．Jellyfish-Bot makes a lot of difference to the ocean |
| D．An underwater robot could help clean up ocean pollutants |
