1 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. How does the woman feel at first?

A．Amused.

B．Curious.

C．Excited.

2. What in the forest made the man think about rotting?

A．Flowers.

B．Trees.

C．Mushrooms.

3. What does the woman think of yellow mushrooms?

A．Common.

B．Special.

C．Interesting.

4. When will the speakers return to the forest?

A．On Thursday.

B．On Friday.

C．On Saturday.

2 . Many people want to grow their own food in their own backyard, but they don’t know how to start. This article will teach you how to start!

Find out what plants to get. Get plants that can grow in your area, and make sure you plant them at the right time of the year.     1     Usually you should start your garden after the last frost date in the spring t While they’re technically fruits, a good starter plant to grow is tomatoes. You can plant these in a pot or in your garden.

    2    Make sure there is enough space to grow your plants. Use a tiller (犁) and till the whole space you will be gardening. Then pull out any weeds and move any large rocks. Find out how big your plants get and space them accordingly. If your plant needs slightly acidic (酸性的) soil, get an acid metre and make sure the soil has enough acidity.     3     To grow them well, you can buy fertilizer that can add acidity to the soil.

Buy your plants and fertilizers. You can either get seeds or get plant seedlings. Go to your local nursery and see what they have. Get fertilizer as well.     4     This will make your plants grow, better and faster!

Plant your plants in the garden. Use a hand shovel and dig a small hole big enough to put your plant in. Water your plant before you put it in so you can wet the root ball. Sprinkle(撒)in a little bit of fertilizer and put your plant in.     5    

For seeds, stick your finger into the dirt where you want to plant the seed until the dirt reaches the second joint on your finger.

A．Learn how to start a garden.

B．Plan out your garden wisely.

C．Make sure to get the right fertilizer for your plants.

D．Some plants that need acidity are tomatoes and blueberries.

E．You should grow and water them in spring if you want to have a good start.

F．Then surround the plant with dirt and make a small circle around it for water.

G．If you plant them too early or too late, they could freeze and die before you can harvest vegetables.

3 . What foods do you use to celebrate with your family? Do you eat something special on your birthday or holidays? Among the Hopi people, many foods for special celebrations are made from corn.

The Hopi people are Native Americans who live in Black Mesa, Arizona, USA. They grow special types of corn with long roots (根), which help the corn reach water in the ground in the hot and dry desert (沙漠).     1     In fact, in Hopi tradition, corn is the first solid food a baby eats.

The Hopi use each color of corn for something different. For example, blue corn is used to make some traditional Hopi foods. Piki is one Hopi food made with blue com. It is like a paper-thin, rolled pancake.     2     When a new baby is born, cobs (玉米棒子) of white corn are placed in the baby’s cradle (摇篮).     3     When girls grow up, they grind (磨碎) com for four days as part of their Coming of Age Ceremony. The Hopi also grind com by hand for wedding ceremonies.

    4     For example, in some Hopi villages, women walk down the Mesa to gather water and firewood every day. Men in those villages run up to 40 miles to their farms every day to grow corn, bean, and chili pepper crops. Other Hopi live in modern homes and use modern technology in their daily lives.     5     Corn is an important part of Hopi life today.

A．The Hopi people have a long history.

B．Corn is also used in Hopi ceremonies.

C．There are different types of corn as well.

D．Corn plays an important role in the Hopi diet.

E．Some Hopi today still live as they did hundreds of years ago.

F．White corn is used to wish a baby good health and long life.

G．But both groups still practice Hopi spirituality and other traditions.

4 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What does Jacob ask Amy to do?

A．Enjoy the flowers.

B．Provide help.

C．Grow flowers.

2. How often does Jacob water flowers?

A．Every day.

B．Every two days.

C．Every three days.

3. What do we know about Jacob’s flowers?

A．They lack water.

B．They lack sunshine.

C．Their leaves turn yellow.

4. What will Jacob do?

A．Water flowers in time.

B．Learn about growing flowers.

C．Grow flowers with Amy.

5 . Keeping plants at home is a healthy and comfortable way of life. The following houseplants can create a most beautiful piece of green for your home.

Bird’s Nest Fern (蕨)

The bird’s nest fern is a good choice for anyone with a house that wouldn’t support sun-loving species. It’s a hardy fern variety adapting to living on forest floors, where the air tends to be cool and damp. It likes to be misted as well, but this doesn’t always mean you need a misting bottle—spraying (喷洒) it in the sink or hanging it near a shower often works as well.

Chinese Money Plant

This is a flowering species that might be most appropriate for experienced plant gardeners looking for a new challenge. It prefers a moderate amount of indirect light, and tends to dry out slightly between watering sessions. It produces new plants easily without any input, directly from its root system. These can coexist in the same pot for a time.

Resurrection Plant

This native of the Mexican desert has adapted to surviving in extreme drought by curling (蜷缩) into a ball and remaining in seemingly lifeless state for years, if necessary. In this form, it can be transported by the wind across the dry landscape to areas with water. It will revive within hours in a shallow bowl of water, unfolding and transforming into a fresh and green moss (苔藓).

Snake Plant

This is a striking houseplant that can be an especially good option for new plant owners who you might not trust to keep a plant alive. It grows happily in almost any condition. While it prefers bright light, it doesn’t mind shade or even artificial light. Plus, thanks to its thick, fleshy leaves, it stores water with remarkable efficiency, which makes it survive without water in the earth.

1. What is special about the bird’s nest fern?

A．It prefers shade.	B．It is sun-loving.
C．It tends to grow in the sink.	D．It can return to life after death.

2. Which plant will test its owner’s gardening skill most?

A．Bird’s nest fern.	B．Chinese money plant.
C．Resurrection plant.	D．Snake plant.

3. What do resurrection plant and snake plant have in common?

A．They demand attentive owners.	B．They are very drought-tolerant.
C．They will curl for self-protection.	D．They can store water for drought.

6 . There are a number of animals that give off light in some way-including several kinds of insects and fish. Some kinds of mushrooms give off light, too. But most plants don’t give out light. Now, scientists are working to change that.

When a living thing gives off light, it’s called bioluminescence (生物发光). Fireflies are a well-known example of bioluminescence. Though less well-known, many mushrooms are also bioluminescent. These bioluminescent creatures light up thanks to the chemicals called luciferins (荧光素)inside their bodies. Luciferins cause a chemical reaction that can give off light.

Plants don’t naturally have luciferins, so there are no naturally bioluminescent plants. But that hasn’t stopped scientists from trying to create them. In the past, scientists have created plants that made less bright by adding DNA from shining objects. Scientists have also created plants that can give off light by adding luciferins to plants. But it only works as long as the chemicals last. In 2017, a team was able to cause a plant to give off light for about four hours.

Now, researchers at a Russian company have come up with a new method of creating shining plants. By adding certain parts of the DNA from shining mushrooms to ordinary tobacco plants, the researchers were able to create plants that could make their own luciferins. The scientists reported that the light was about 10 times brighter than in earlier shining plants.

The researchers believe that shining plants could help scientists learn more about the way plants work. For example, the moving patterns or waves of light in the plants may show activities in plants that normally can’t be seen. The shining also helps reveal how plants may be affected by things around them. For example, the plants gave off much more light strongly when a ripe banana skin was nearby. But the researchers don’t think the plants will just be used for science. They think many people may want shining plants for their beauty. So they are working with a company to develop shining plants for sale.

1. What phenomenon does the author describe in paragraph 1?

A．Most animals hate giving off light.

B．Many plants give off light through scientists’ efforts.

C．Animals give off light to protect themselves.

D．It’s hard to find plants that give out light.

2. What happens when a firefly lights up?

A．It gives off lots of heat to warm itself.

B．It has chemical reactions inside its body.

C．It lacks energy due to chemical reactions.

D．It informs other fireflies of the danger.

3. How does the author support his viewpoint in the last paragraph?

A．By showing numbers.	B．By making a comparison.
C．By providing examples.	D．By making a summary.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Human development results in less shining plants

B．Scientists manage to create shining plants

C．People’s lifestyles are reflected in shining plants

D．Geography determines the types of shining plants

7 . Last year, brilliant’ botanists from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, discovered, identified and named 114 spectacular new species of plants and fungi (真菌) from around the world. Let’s find out more about some of Kew’s most wonderful new finds.

ROYAL MUSHROOM

NAME: Queen’s hedgehog fungus

FROM: Surrey, England

Named after the late Queen Elizabeth II, this rare fungus was found in an ancient forest in White Down, Surrey. According to the scientists who discovered it, the soft, white needles under the fungus’15cm-wide cap look like hedgehogs’ needles — giving it the second part of its name. Cool!

WORLD’S STRANGEST DAFFODIL

NAME: Sternbergia mishustinii

FROM: Turkey

The flowers of this rare species are bright yellow, but they’re only 2cm long and don't open up into a visible flower. Just 300 of these plants have been discovered, secret to hide them from illegal plant collectors.

RECORD-BREAKING WATERLILY

NAME: Giant Bolivian waterlily

FROM: Bolivia. South America

Check out this huge waterlily — its 3m wide leaves are big enough for a kid to float on! The big species has just won three Guinness World Records for largest waterlily, largest waterlily leaf and largest undivided leaf. And get this — although the giant plant was only named last year, a dried sample has been kept in Kew’s own Herbarium since 1845! Botanists had thought it was a similar, related species. Thankfully, the case of mistaken identity is all cleared up now. Unbe-leaf-able!

1. What’s Queen’s hedgehog fungus like?

A．It has yellow flowers.	B．It’s native to England.
C．It looks like hedgehogs.	D．It’s critically endangered.

2. What Guinness record does Giant Bolivian waterlily hold?

A．The oldest fungi.	B．The biggest leaves.
C．The fastest growing plant.	D．The largest waterlily species

3. Where is the passage most likely to have been taken from?

A．A botanical magazine.	B．A geographic textbook.
C．A historical document.	D．Guinness World Records.

8 . Common water plant could provide a green energy source. Scientists have figured out how to get large amounts of oil from duckweed, one of nature’s fastest-growing water plants. Transferring such plant oil into biodiesel (生物柴油) for transportation and heating could be a big part of a more sustainable future.

For a new study, researchers genetically engineered duckweed plants to produce seven times more oil per acre than soybeans. John Shanklin, a biochemist says further research could double the engineered duckweed’s oil output in the next few years.

Unlike fossil fuels, which form underground, biofuels can be refreshed faster than they are used. Fuels made from new and used vegetable oils, animal fat and seaweed can have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels do, but there has been a recent negative view against them. This is partly because so many crops now go into energy production rather than food; biofuels take up more than 100 million acres of the world’s agricultural land.

Duckweed, common on every continent but Antarctica, is among the world’s most productive plants, and the researchers suggest it could be a game-changing renewable energy source for three key reasons. First, it grows readily in water, so it wouldn’t compete with food crops for agricultural land. Second, duckweed can grow fast in agricultural pollution released into the water. Third, Shanklin and his team found a way to avoid a major biotechnological barrier: For the new study, Shanklin says, the researchers added an oil-producing gene, “turning it on like a light switch”by introducing a particular molecule (分子) only when the plant had finished growing. Shanklin says, “If it replicates (复制) in other species-and there’s no reason to think that it would not — this can solve one of our biggest issues, which is how we can make more oil in more plants without negatively affecting growth.”

To expand production to industrial levels, scientists will need to design and produce large-scale bases for growing engineered plants and obtaining oil — a challenge, Shanklin says, because duckweed is a non-mainstream crop without much existing infrastructure (基础设施).

1. What can people get from duckweed firsthand?

A．Plant oil.	B．Stable biodiesel.
C．Sustainable water.	D．Natural heat.

2. What does paragraph 4 mainly convey?

A．Options for renewable energy.

B．Reasons for engineering genes.

C．The potential of revolutionary energy source.

D．The approach to avoiding agricultural pollution.

3. What is the decisive factor to mass-produce the plant?

A．Industrial levels.	B．Unique design.
C．Academic research.	D．Basic facilities.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Duckweed Power	B．Duckweed Production
C．Genetic Engineering	D．Genetic Testing

9 . A houseplant is pretty to look at and brings fresh air to your home. Besides, looking after a plant will give you something more to do and care about. Let’s look at the four best houseplants you can grow.

Australian Pine A perfect “living decoration” to add in your house, it is good to look at and has a comforting feel. It can also serve as the perfect Christmas tree. It grows around 10 feet tall indoors. Remember that it requires plenty of light and fresh air. Otherwise, it becomes weak and an easy target for mites (螨虫).	Dracaena The green and yellow pattern on its leaves looks great. It can grow to be around 10 feet tall. Just make sure you keep the soil surface dry between your watering periods because it gets influenced by too much water. Also, having this plant around a dog can be dangerous. It can be poisonous to dogs if they eat it.
Grape Ivy If you want something off the ceiling (天花板), this houseplant is the one for you. It’s a climbing plant, and it will make for a beautiful hanging basket decoration. The plant is full of life wherever it is hung. It needs to be kept wet in all its parts for good growth.	Peperomia It is little in size, with long leaves. It adds energy to your living room and creates a comforting environment. As it’s not a very tall plant, you needn’t worry about how much space it will take up. The plant likes a dry surface of the soil.

So what are you for? Choose the one that attracts you most, and give your home a wonderful addition.

1. Which of the following can serve as a Christmas tree?

A．Australian pine.

B．Dracaena.

C．Grape ivy.

D．Peperomia.

2. When keeping Dracaena as a houseplant, you should________.

A．be careful with mites	B．hang it from the celling
C．keep dogs away from it	D．leave the surface of the soil wet

3. What do you know about Peperomia?

A．Its leaves are short.	B．It is small in size.
C．It likes much water.	D．It is a climbing plant.

4. In which section of a website can you most likely find the passage?

A．Politics.

B．Business.

C．Travel.

D．Life.

10 . Four Best Plants to Give as Gifts

Choosing a gift for someone is always a challenge. Giving plants is one way to try if the recipient is already a plant-lover. Here are some sure to impress as thoughtful gifts.

Jade Plant

The jade plant is a large succulent (肉质植物) that makes a perfect gift for someone who’s mastered parenting succulents. With a woody stem (茎), it looks like a tree once growing tall enough. Besides occasional watering and a bright window, the jade plant has few other requirements. A good challenge for ambitious owners is to regularly cut off its heavy leaves to reduce weight.

Christmas Cactus

This is a succulent with eye-catching flowers that appear in winter. You might assume it a picky plant, but nothing could be further than the truth. It prefers bright, indirect light and grows well in average potting soil. This plant prefers a steady watering schedule, especially in winter. To encourage more growth, plant it in a hanging container that allows its branches to hang down.

Paperwhite

Some people just aren’t interested in keeping houseplants around long-term, and paperwhite flowers are an excellent gift for anyone you know who fits this mould. Paperwhites grow from bulbs (鳞茎) and will produce flowers out of season. The roots need to be kept relatively damp, but once they are blooming (开花), there’s not much that can go wrong. They can be replanted outside after they have run their course.

Corn Plant

The corn plant is forgiving of variable light conditions and watering routines. It grows slowly, but can reach a height of four to six feet, and can make an impressive floor plant. Its leaves turn paler in direct sunlight to reflect the extra light, and darker green in shady conditions to maximize sunlight absorption.

1. Which plant requires practised gardening experience?

A．Jade plant.

B．Christmas cactus.

C．Paperwhite.

D．Corn plant.

2. How can we help a Christmas cactus grow well?

A．By replanting it outside before blooming.	B．By watering it regularly during blooming.
C．By cutting off most of its heavy leaves.	D．By making its branches grow upwards.

3. What affects the colour of leaves of a corn plant?

A．The frequency of watering.	B．Its flowering time.
C．Its rate of growing.	D．The amount of sunlight.