1 . You’ll only find cherry blossoms in a handful of countries.

Called sakura in Japan, the cherry blossoms of Yoshino and Kyoto are world-famous. Tourists flock to the country each spring to try their hand at a centuries-old activity “flower viewing”. You don’t have to fly to Japan to see them, though. In the US, the cherry blossoms of Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Seattle, San Francisco, and Boston are all beautiful in their own way. The flowers can also be viewed in many European and Asian countries, as well as Brazil and Australia in the southern hemisphere.

There are hundreds of cherry tree varieties.

Japan in particular is home to hundreds of types of cherry trees -possibly more than 600.Some types bear fruit, while others don’t. The flowers of many trees change from dark pink to light pink to white throughout the different stages of blossoming, while others progress from greenish yellow to white to pink. One variety, called Kanzan, was bred to have “double blossoms” — or up to28 petals (花瓣) on each flower, compared to the Yoshino tree’s five petals.

You can get arrested for picking a cherry blossom in Washington, D. C.

Resist the urge to take a cherry blossom home with you as a souvenir. In D.C. at least, breaking off a blossom or branch is viewed as destruction of federal property. Those who break this rule could receive a citation (传票), or worse, be arrested. It goes without saying that it’s also illegal to climb the trees. If they sustain damage to their branches, they will never be able to grow new blossom on that particular branch again.

Both the blossoms and leaves are edible.

In Japan, no part of the cherry blossom tree pes to waste. The preserved leaves are used as edible mochi wrappers (a rice cake filled with sweet bean paste), and a number of seasonal snacks feature sakura as a key ingredient Sakura-flavored versions of Pepsi, Coke, tea, and even Starbucks lattes are all popular drinks. You can also find Kit Kats and Pocky snack sticks that taste like sakura.

They were the inspiration behind a record-setting LEGO sculpture.

Legoland Japan, a theme park in Nagoya, set a Guinness World Record in 2018 for the largest LEGO brick cherry blossom tree ever made. The trees stood 14 feet tall, weighed over 7000 pounds, and consisted of more than 800,000 LEGO bricks.

1. In which country can’t you see cherry blossoms according to the passage?

A．America.

B．China.

C．Germany.

D．Egypt

2. What can be learned from the passage?

A．Climbing cherry trees is tolerable in Washington.	B．Sakura-flavored snacks and drinks are welcomed.
C．Kanzan sakura is better than Yoshino sakura.	D．The largest cherry blossom tree grows in Japan.

3. Who is the article meant for?

A．A passionate environmentalist.	B．An ecological researcher.
C．A student interested in plants.	D．A tourist in Japan

2 . Planting the right seeds(种子)at the right time will not take as lots of efforts as we think. And some vegetables do grow themselves well without paying too much attention. Here are 4 vegetables that are perfect for a backyard garden.

Green beans

There is really only one important rule for planting green beans—don’t plant them too early. They won’t survive a frost. They may also stop producing in the middle of the summer, but if you continue to water them, they will continue to produce once the temperatures start to drop in early fall. The most time-intensive part of growing beans is in the harvest. The more frequently you pick up beans, the more beans it will grow.

Brussels sprouts(抱子甘蓝)

This sweet vegetable can be grown in nearly any home garden with rich sunlight. They have a long growing season compared with other vegetables. Their taste improves if they are covered with frost. However, they can only bear a few days of cold weather, so be sure to harvest them as quickly as possible.

Broccoli(西兰花)

Broccoli is a cool-weather plant that grows best in spring and fall. It can be planted in early spring for a summer harvest, or in late summer to be harvested in fall. If grown in winter, to avoid heavy frost, broccoli can also be grown indoors and moved to the garden when temperatures rise. When growing broccoli, be sure to watch out for pests(害虫).

Peas

Peas are a great choice for new gardeners. All you need is a container that is at least 10 inches deep and something for the plants to climb. They prefer low temperatures, and once the heat of summer hits, pea plants will stop producing. If your garden space is limited, you can pull them up in the summer and replace peas with another crop that likes the heat

1. What can you do to harvest more green beans?

A．Plant them early.	B．Gather them in time.
C．Grow them indoors.	D．Avoid watering them in summer.

2. What will happen when Brussels sprouts are covered with frost?

A．It will taste better.	B．It will grow better.
C．It will attract pests.	D．It will go bad immediately.

3. What do broccoli and peas have in common?

A．They can survive frost.	B．They enjoy cool weather.
C．They take up a lot of space.	D．They stop growing in summer.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

With high yield and superior quality, Chinese hybrid rice varieties have been introduced around the world,     1     (benefit) more people. The export of China’s hybrid rice technology started many years ago. In 1979, China provided hybrid rice seeds to another country for the first time, and 40 years later, in     2     (real), China’s hybrid rice has been planted in dozens of countries in the world.

In the past 40 years, Chinese scientists     3     (devote) to providing assistance to many other countries. China has trained more than 14,000 hybrid rice professionals for more than 80 developing countries through international training courses. This technology has spread     4     more and more places in the world so far.

Yuan Longping,     5     cultivated the world’s first high-yield hybrid rice strain not only earned respect from Chinese people but also the global community. His hybrid rice research has been     6     (entire) saving millions of people from hunger. Yuan’s dream was     7     (solve) the global food shortage and promote hybrid rice around the world. China has achieved     8     great wonder, feeding nearly one fifth of the world’s population with less than nine percent of the world’s total land. And China is     9     (will) to contribute to global food security and calls for joint efforts to end global hunger and poverty.

It     10     (believe) that Yuan’s dream will come true one day.

4 . This summer, Guinness World Records chose a big cherry as the heaviest ever recorded. A Carmen cherry, harvested by brothers Giuseppe and Alberto Rosso, clocked up 33 grams with a circumference (周长) of around 5 inches. At their farm, Cascina Canape, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, the Rosso brothers claim to have grown many cherries of similar size over the last few years. But it was only in 2021 that they decided to “get serious” in seeking official recognition for their fruit.

However, this is the second time the world record has been broken for the heaviest cherry in 2021. Another grower, from Ferrara, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, harvested a cherry this year weighing 26.45 grams. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the record was broken twice in Italy, since the country is Europe’s largest cherry producer. Yet Piedmont, where the latest record was set, is not one of the many Italian regions that grow the most cherries, such as Puglia, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Campania, and Lazio.

Though their farm is only 15 acres, the Rosso brothers grow over 70 types of cherries. Consumers today tend to buy the larger, sweeter fruits, and the winning Carmen variety has both of these characteristics. But to achieve the record size, nothing can be left to chance, “Pruning (修剪) is very important,” explains Alberto. “The main purpose is not to overload the plant with fruits: if there are too many, they may all ripen. But then we would have cherries of smaller dimensions with less sugar in them, because the plant would not be able to feed everyone in the same way.”

Also, one may think that large cherries must grow on very large trees. It’s actually the opposite: many new cherry tree types are only about 13 feet high, yet they are the ones that produce the largest fruits.

1. What can we learn about the winning cherry?

A．It is 5 inches in height.

B．It is 26.45 grams in weight.

C．It was brought in by two Italian brothers.

D．It was from the region growing the most cherries.

2. What does the underlined phrase “clock up” mean in paragraph 1?

A．timed

B．grew

C．equalled

D．weighed

3. Which cherry trees may produce the largest fruits?

A．Those growing in Piedmont.	B．Those small trees pruned properly.
C．Those extremely tall trees.	D．Those with cherries ripening fast.

4. Where is the text most probably taken from?

A．A journal.

B．An advertisement.

C．A textbook.

D．A brochure.