1 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Food from the air

Everyone has seen plants growing, but have you ever thought     1     they get their food? In the seventeenth century, a European scientist     2     (call) Van Helmot asked this question. Like most people, he thought that plants must get their food from soil. However, Van Helmot decided       3     (test) the theory with experiments.

First, he dried some soil, put it into a pot and weighed it. Next, he weighed a small tree, planted it in the pot and added rain water. Then, he watered it     4     (regular) with rain water.

After five years, he removed the tree from the pot and weighed it again. He found that the tree had gained     5     huge amount of weight. When he weighed the soil, however, it was almost exactly the same as it had been five years    6    . So Van Helmot drew the    7    (conclude) that the tree grew by drinking water. Though it turned out to be wrong, he showed the importance of the use of scientific evidence to support ideas.

We now know that plants and trees make their own food. Their leaves, when exposed     8     the air and sun, are like factories    9     can change the energy from the sun into chemical energy. During this process (过程), oxygen and sugar     10     (produce). The oxygen is released back into the air, and the sugar is used by the plant as food.

2 . Many plants and animals live together, and they depend on each other. They are usually very different from their sharing partner, and yet all live easier lives because of each other. It is nature’s idea of sharing.

An example of this is the shark and pilot fish. The pilot fish is a little guy and he would be helpless if he hung around by himself in the great ocean. But his smartness makes up for his size. He cleverly swims along beside the shark and when the shark eats, the pilot fish gets the leftovers. The shark also benefits from this relationship. The pilot fish cleans food scraps (碎屑) and insects from the shark’s skin.

Another example is the sea anemone (海葵) and striped clown fish. The sea anemone looks like a flower but contains poisonous cells. When small fish swim into it, the anemone traps and paralyzes (使麻痹) them. However, the striped clown fish is able to swim into the poisonous anemone without being harmed. To pay for his safety, the clown fish brings food to the anemone. He also guides other fish into the anemone’s deadly trap.

Large mammals such as the ox, antelope and African buffalo form such a relationship with the oxpecker (牛椋鸟). They provide daily meals to the bird that eats insects. The various large mammals act as a restaurant with a varied menu for the oxpecker. What do they get in return from the bird? Free beauty treatments!

Some plants live together in a beneficial relationship. Fungus (菌类) does not have chlorophyll (叶绿素) that plants need to make food. However, the green alga (海藻) does contain chlorophyll. It is, therefore, able to feed the fungus along with itself. But nothing is free! The fungus repays it by protecting the alga. Since it takes in and stores water, it can provide the alga with an unending water supply.

1. Why does the pilot fish swim along beside the shark?

A．Because he likes eating the waste given off by the shark.

B．Because he can help the shark get food.

C．Because he can get food and protection.

D．Because he needs the help of the shark to lead his way.

2. To repay the sea anemone, the striped clown fish ______.

A．paralyzes small fish for him	B．helps him catch other fish
C．does some cleaning work	D．warns him of the danger

3. What do the fungus and the green algae share with each other?

A．Energy and light.	B．Energy and light.
C．Light and chlorophyll	D．Chlorophyll and water.

4. What is the structure of the passage?

A．①→②③④⑤	B．①→②③→④⑤
C．①②③④→⑤	D．①②③→④⑤

3 . Indoor plants might look as if they just sit around not doing much, but in many ways they are the unsung heroes of the home.     1    , but studies have shown that they can promote people’s wellbeing by improving their mood (心情), reducing stress and helping their memory. What’s more, indoor plants are easy to look after and are not very expensive.

What are indoor plants?

Indoor plants, also known as houseplants or pot plants, are plants that like to grow indoors. Many of these species (物种) are not ideally suited to growing outside in the UK, especially in the winter.     2    .

Why are indoor plants good for you?

Will Spoelstra, who works at the Royal Botanic Gardens, says, “    3    . I find during the winter months, plants around the house can really lift your mood.” Several studies have backed this up and found that indoor plants can improve creativity, focus and memory. There is also research showing that pot plants can clean the air around them by removing harmful gases, such as carbon dioxide. They also remove some harmful chemicals from paints or cooking.     4    .

Which plants can you grow?

Aloe vera, peace lilies and spider plants are some of the species that are easy to grow indoors. You can buy plants from supermarkets, garden centres or online. Younger plants are often cheaper than fully grown ones, and you get to care for them as they mature — which is part of the joy of owning plants. “    5    ,” Spoelstra says. “It can bring a new interest and focus into people’s lives and help to make the link between home and nature.”

A．All plants are different

B．Not only do they look beautiful

C．There are many benefits to growing plants indoors

D．Instead, they grow better inside, where it is warmer

E．Plants like peace lilies and devil’s ivy are among the best

F．Changing the pot of your plant from time to time will also help

G．Learning about the requirements of each plant can be very rewarding

4 . Wildflower meadows are beautiful; so beautiful in fact that a village in Britain has found they act as natural speed traps from motorists slowing down to look at them.

The village of Long Newnton in Gloucestershire has a problem with fast-moving traffic between nearby towns. Almost all drivers moving through areas they frequent will break posted speed limits, and neither a 30 mile per hour limit, nor warning signs made any difference.

Officials first planted flowers along the roadside during the pandemic to help improve biodiversity. But they noticed that as well as attracting more wildlife, motorists also slowed down when they passed the flowers. The village, between Tetbury and Malmesbury, has traffic regularly travelling between them, and the small parish council(教区行政机构) receives limited funds from the government for traffic control measures.

Putting two and two together, the village is now relying on its flowers to do the work that the road signs could not, paying for the blooms with crowdfunding(众筹) in the village.

Why exactly people slow down isn’t entirely clear. “Evidence has shown that if you introduce things like wildflowers, drivers will slow down because they feel like they’re coming into somewhere that’s looked after,” said Jenny Forde, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Cotswold District Council. A crowdfunding campaign has raised almost £8,000 for traffic-calming measures, which will be used to fund a three-year care program for the wildflowers.

A sign that flashes and records data when people are breaking the 30 mph(48 kmph) speed limit was also fixed by the council. According to the data, 90% of motorists drive below the speed limit. It goes to show that something the homeschooling revolution in America is getting right applies elsewhere too, and that rewards for good behavior will always outperform(胜过) punishment for bad behavior.

1. What problem are villagers in Long Newnton facing?

A．Drivers often overspeed through the village.

B．Warning signs are unserviceable inside the village.

C．Traffic accidents often happen between the towns.

D．Large numbers of people are pouring to visit the village.

2. For what did officials plant flowers along the roadside initially?

A．Acting as traffic signals.	B．Attracting more tourists.
C．Increasing plant diversity.	D．Advising drivers to slow down.

3. What can be inferred from the text?

A．The longest journey begins with the first step.

B．Rewards outweigh punishment in some way.

C．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

D．A good beginning is half of success.

4. Which of the following is probably the best title?

A．Pay for Flowers with Crowdfunding	B．Natural Traps Found in Long Newnton
C．More Measures Taken to Regulate Traffic	D．Handle Speeding with Wildflowers’ Help

5 . With no special equipment, no fences and no watering, two abandoned agricultural fields in the UK have been rewilded (重新野化), in large part due to the efforts of jays, which actually “engineered” these new woodlands. Researchers now hope that rewilding projects can take a more natural and hands-off approach and that jays can shed some of their bad reputations.

The two fields, which researchers have called the New Wilderness and the Old Wilderness, had been abandoned in 1996 and 1961 respectively. The former was a bare field, while the latter was grassland—both lay next to ancient woodlands. Researchers had suspected that the fields would gradually return to wilderness, but it was impressive to see just how quickly this happened, and how much of it was owed to birds.

Using aerial data, the researchers monitored the two sites. After just 24 years, the New Wilderness had grown into a young, healthy wood with 132 live trees per hectare, over half of which (57%) were oaks. Meanwhile, the Old Wilderness resembled a mature woodland after 39 years, with 390 trees per hectare.

“This native woodland restoration was approaching the structure (but not the species composition) of long-established woodlands within six decades,” the researchers explained in the study.

Part of this reforestation was done by the wind, and researchers suspect that previous ground disturbance may have aided the woodland establishment—which is good news, as it would suggest that agricultural areas may be reforested faster than anticipated. However, animals—Eurasian jays, thrushes, wood mice, and squirrels—also played an important role in helping the forests take shape. This handful of species provided much of the natural regeneration needed for the forest to develop. Jays, in particular, seem to have done a lot of heavy lifting.

1. What does the underlined word “shed” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Be opposed to.

B．Be ashamed of.

C．Get used to.

D．Get rid of.

2. Which aspect of the changes in the two fields impressed the researchers?

A．The scale of the woodlands.

B．The diversity of the fields.

C．The rate of the changes.

D．The frequency of the wilderness.

3. What does the author want to tell us by providing some data in Paragragh 3?

A．The woodland restoration was approaching the structure of long-established ones.

B．Much of the wilderness of the fields was owed to birds.

C．Previous ground disturbance aided the woodland establishment.

D．How quickly the fields returned to wilderness over time.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The essential role of humans in the reforestation.

B．The factors that contribute to the reforestation.

C．The importance of woodland establishment.

D．The threats faced by a handful of wild animals.

6 . Lichens (地衣)

Lichens look like splashes of paint left behind by a careless painter. Unlike many plants, they do not require soil to grow. They grow on trunk of trees in steaming tropical rain forests, on farmers’ fenceposts, on the bricks of big-city buildings, and on old gravestones. Lichens can tolerate extremes of climate. They grow on rocks in hot springs, on wind-swept mountaintops, and on stones in the driest deserts. In the Arctic, lichens are the principal source of food for reindeer. Whole mountainsides in Antarctica appear green and orange because of the presence of lichens; they are one of the few plants that can survive there. They are among the oldest of known plants. Recently, scientists discovered lichen fossils on a rock in a mine in southwest China that date back 600 million years.

When conditions become harsh, lichens become dormant (休眠). If there is not enough moisture, they simply dry up, but a short rain or even a heavy dew gives them new life. When growing on rock surfaces, lichens produce acids that dissolve (溶解) the minerals, contributing to the process of weathering by which rocks are slowly turned to soil. This property enables lichens to be pioneers. They appear on barren rock rubbed clean by glaciers, fires, lava flows, or floods, beginning the process of soil formation that allows mosses (苔藓) and other plants to later take root. But, despite their hardiness, lichens are extremely sensitive to airborne particles(颗粒). That’s why they serve as an early warning system for air pollution.

It is the acids lichens produce that give them their distinctive colors. Lichens are often spoken of in the same breath as mosses, and some lichens are even called mosses, but true mosses are all distinctively green, whereas lichens appear in many vivid colors. At one time, acids from lichens were used to make dyes, such as the purple dye, the blue dye, and the red dye, and they are sometimes still used that way today. Some lichens, such as oakmoss, contain oils that produce fragrant odors used in scented soaps, cosmetics and perfumes. Some lichens are also known to have antibiotic properties to kill bacteria.

So definite are the form, color, and characteristics of these organisms that for hundreds of years lichens were constantly under scientists’ microscope.

1. What characteristic of lichens is mainly talked about in paragraph 1?

A．They grow only on rock surfaces.

B．They live primarily in cold places.

C．They have adapted to a wide variety of environments.

D．They live in remote locations far from human communities.

2. The author refer to lichens as pioneers in paragraph 2 because they __________.

A．have their primitive structure

B．grow in areas before other plants do

C．are found in remote parts of the world

D．develop so early in the history of the planet

3. According to paragraph 3, humans use lichens in the following ways EXCEPT __________.

A．as a means of coloring clothing

B．as a type of medicine

C．as a source of food

D．as an ingredient in perfume

4. Which of the following cases would be probably dealt with in the next paragraph?

A．Lichens are important in Canada because of their abundance in the north.

B．Extracts of lichens were sold as herbal medicines to facilitate hair growth.

C．Glacier Park’s vast array of lichens indicate relatively good air quality.

D．A German botanist first found lichens are composed of two life forms.

7 . A hungry fly speeds through a forest. It smells nectar (a liquid that insects feed on) and lands on a green leaf. It starts to drink the sweet liquid. Suddenly, the fly's world turns green. The two sides of the leaf close against each other. Long green teeth lock together around it. The fly has been caught by a Venus flytrap. There is no escape.

The Venus flytrap is perhaps the most famous killer plant. However, scientists have only recently started to understand how it hunts and eats. After years of study, plant scientist Alexander Volkov believes he now knows the Venus flytrap's secret. “This,” says Volkov," is an electrical plant."

There are three small hairs along each of the Venus flytrap's two leaves. When an insect touches a hair, it creates an electrical signal in the leaf. The insect can continue feeding—for now. But if it touches another hair within 20 seconds, the trap snaps shut. This system allows the plant to tell the difference between a drop of water, for example, and a moving creature.

Once trapped, an insect has little chance of survival. Instead of nectar, the Venus flytrap now releases a different liquid —one that slowly eats away at the insect. Ten days later, almost nothing is left. The plant's leaves open again, and the Venus flytrap is ready for its next meal.

Besides the Venus flytrap, there are around 700 species of killer plants around the world. Some are deadly. Sundews catch insects using a sticky liquid on the end of long hairs. A butterwort's leaves are covered with tiny, gluey hairs that trap small insects. Pitcher plants have long tubelike leaves into which insects fall and die. Some pitcher plants are large enough to catch and eat small animals like frogs and mice.

1. What is special about the Venus flytrap?

A．Its trap closes very slowly.	B．It has to feed on flies.
C．It produces electrical signals.	D．It just makes one kind of liquid.

2. What is the purpose of Paragraph 4?

A．To explore how the insect survives.

B．To explain how the Venus flytrap works.

C．To describe different types of killer plants.

D．To introduce an experiment carried out on a plant.

3. Which plant does not use hairs to catch insect?

A．The sundew.	B．The butterwort.
C．The pitcher plant.	D．The Venus flytrap.

4. What might be discussed in the following part?

A．What meals a Venus flytrap prefers.

B．What the features of deadly plants are.

C．Where the deadly plants are found.

D．How other killer plants catch insects.