1 . 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.

2. What does the author intend to do in the last paragraph?

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.

3. Which of the following best shows the structure of the text?
1=Paragraph One 2= Paragraph Two 3= Paragraph Three 4= Paragraph Four 5=Paragraph Five

A．

B．

C．

D．

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Trees: Cleaners of the Environment	B．Trees: Shelters for Creatures
C．Trees: Defenders of Human Health	D．Trees: Guards of the Planet

2 . Madagascar, the world’s second-largest island country located off Africa’s eastern coast, is an island of diverse ecosystems and a biodiversity hotspot. The country has unique wildlife, with 90% of its plants and animals found nowhere else. Madagascar’s wildlife creates some of the country’s most beautiful scenery and popular spots. One of its conspicuous landscapes, attracting tourists from almost all corners of the Earth, is the Avenue of the Baobabs in the Menabe region. This avenue is made up of numerous baobab trees along the dirt road linking Belon’i Tsiribihina and Morondava, creating a unique and beautiful setting.

Baobab trees are common throughout Madagascar. Of the Earth’s eight species, six are native to the country. Some of the baobabs in the country are about 2, 800 years old, with trunks rising to 150 feet. The avenue is a row of about 25 baobabs stretching about 260 meters. Other baobab trees are also found in the nearby pastures (牧草地). This road is one of Madagascar’s most visited places. It is also the most accessible place to see some of Africa’s oldest baobabs. These trees were once part of a forest that was made up of other plants. However, massive deforestation cleared the area of most trees, leaving the baobabs to grow alone.

The baobab trees along the road and the other species growing in the nearby areas are always under constant threat from the increasing population. The trees also face threats from polluted water from the nearby fields, forest fires, and bushfires. Despite being a popular tourist attraction, the Avenue of the Baobabs has no admission fee or visitor center and generates little money for local communities.

Thankfully, non-governmental organizations in partnership with the government have noticed the area and developed activities to protect the avenue. The Ministry of Environment, Ecology, and Forests declared it a temporary protected area in July 2007. In July 2015, the site was declared a national monument (国家保护区), the first in Madagascar. The government and local communities hope the trees can survive for additional 800 years.

1. What does the underlined word “conspicuous” in the first paragraph mean?

A．New.

B．Cultural.

C．Striking.

D．Changing.

2. What do we know about the Avenue of the Baobabs?

A．It is a big forest.	B．It has eight baobab species.
C．It consists of many different plants.	D．It has Africa’s oldest baobabs.

3. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The risk to local baobab trees.

B．Natural disasters in Madagascar.

C．Poor living conditions in Madagascar.

D．The quality customer service of the avenue.

4. What kind of feeling is expressed in the last paragraph?

A．Curiosity.

B．Caution.

C．Hopefulness.

D．Sympathy.

3 . 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.

2. According to the research, how did scientists rid thale cress of its bitter taste?

A．By selecting better seeds.	B．By removing the three proteins.
C．By increasing sweet tastes.	D．By storing defensive substances.

3. What do Halkier’s words focus on?

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.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for this text?

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

4 . Gardening’s many “rules” have been repeated so often that they can seem like unquestionable truths. But many have little basis in fact, so following them may be unnecessary at best and could give you poorer results at worst.

A classic example is the long-held idea that watering plants around noon on a sunny day should be avoided, since it might harm their leaves. The explanation is that tiny water droplets can act like lenses (透镜), focusing the sun’s rays onto leaves, resulting in scorched (灼伤的) leaves and reduced plant health.

Four researchers set out to learn more, running experiments on living plants and carrying out computer modelling. They found that spreading small glass spheres (球体) over the surface of smooth-leaved plants could indeed have this effect, causing damage right across the leaf surface. But when this was repeated with actual water droplets, such damage didn’t occur.

This is because water behaves rather differently to glass. The shape of a water droplet on a leaf is more elliptical (椭圆的) than spherical. The computer modelling showed that the extreme damage through a lens of this shape would occur when the sun was at a low angle in the sky, that is, in the morning or in the afternoon. However, the sun’s strength at these times is too low to cause any harm. Even if the light of the midday sun did somehow come at the strongest angle, the heat at this time of day would always cause the water droplets to evaporate (蒸发) before they had an effect.

So, if your plants need a good watering, give them some water. Not watering thirsty plants on a sunny day for fear of leaf scorch will almost certainly lead to more damage from drought stress than could be caused by the magnifying glass (放大镜) effect. While it remains generally true that the ideal time to water a plant is in the morning or evening — to lessen the amount of water that evaporates before reaching the plant’s roots — the evidence doesn’t support the idea that watering at midday will cause burning.

1. What is the long-held idea talked about in the passage!

A．Watering plants counts a lot.

B．Plant leaves might act like lenses.

C．Watering at midday may harm plant health.

D．Sun’s rays might be focused onto water droplets.

2. What did the researchers find in the experiments with actual water droplets?

A．The same degree of damage occurred.

B．Damage was caused right across the leaf surface.

C．Unlike the glass spheres, the water droplets didn’t damage leaves.

D．The smooth-leaved plants were extremely affected by water droplets.

3. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The explanation for the finding.

B．The process of the experiments.

C．The time of evaporating.

D．The harm caused by the sunshine.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．The long-held idea is well worth advocating.

B．Plants’ roots get no water if watering occurs at noon.

C．Watering in the morning can prevent water evaporation.

D．Watering thirsty plants on a sunny noon makes sense.

5 . 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。

Indoor plants are a beautiful way to    1    (bright) up your home, especially in the gray    2    (month) of winter. But there can be a dark side to houseplants if you have children or if children visit your home. It is important that you know which plants are poisonous to children.

Gardening expert Jessica Damiano    3    (recent) wrote about the issue for The Associated Press. She said she often pointed out houseplants in homes that should     4    (keep) out of children’s mouths. Last week, Damiano    5    (visit) her cousin’s home and saw a Dieffenbachia plant in the kitchen. Her cousin told her that her young son,    6    had just begun crawling, had shown interest in     7    leaves. Damiano had to explain to her cousin that eating a small amount of the plant’s stem could cause temporary     8    severe pain. The plant parts can cause throat and mouth swelling. The plant’s sap can cause nose, skin and eye pain. Damiano wrote that parents should teach their young children not to put non-food plant parts into their mouths. “Parents should also educate     9    (they),” she said. She urged parent store search whether the plants in their homes are safe to grow around children. She also suggested     10    (learn) the official botanical names of any houseplants so that they can be able to provide that information quickly to a poison control expert, if needed.

6 . 根据所给的首字母或汉语意思，在空白处填入恰当的单词(每空一词)。

Herbal tea has v    1     health benefits. Many people enjoy herbal tea because it can have a positive effect on energy levels. If you haven’t been feeling very well, drink some ginger tea to give your     2     (免疫) system a helping hand. Mint tea, meanwhile, is good for d    3    .

7 . Digging out potato tubers (茎块) is one of the greatest rewards gardens have to offer. Children in particular are surprised at seeing these tubers that almost magically become chips, mash (泥) or baked potatoes.

Happily, potatoes are very easy to grow. Seed tubers are placed in good garden soil, ideally with some compost (堆肥) for every square meter, in a sunny spot, about 10cm deep at 30cm intervals in rows 60-70cm apart.

Seed tubers are offered as earliest and second earliest and maincrop. The second earliest and maincrops can be stored for winter use but earliest are usually consumed in summer.

Seasoned potato growers buy early seed potatoes in February and place them in a cool, reasonably light place and let them sprout (发芽). It takes six weeks for small sprouts to form.

Early potatoes are typically planted from middle March in the South, but are likely to emerge before the first season finishes in May. The shoots are frost-sensitive requiring protection on cod nights with either earth or newspapers.

Second early and maincrop potatoes are planted in middle April—the frost risk will be low, but not absent, by the time they emerge. As the stems (茎) grow, soil should be drawn around them until the leaves meet in the row in early summer. At this stage, the potato field is a series of ridges (脊，垄). The tubers form in the ridge, protected from light that turns them green. Covering with black plastic or a thick layer of compost is also accessible instead of ridging, but plastic is not sustainable and slugs (鼻涕虫) can multiply in compost.

Once the flowers are fully open, it is time to dig plants when the tubers are the size of a hen’s egg. They grow rapidly but gradually lose their juicy new potato flavour, so harvest freely.

1. What’s the writing purpose of paragraph 1?

A．To describe a magic process.

B．To recall a childhood memory.

C．To raise a potato-related topic.

D．To introduce a gardening award.

2. What can we learn about seed tubers?

A．The closer the intervals are, the faster they will grow.

B．The warmer the weather is, the better they will grow.

C．The earlier they are planted, the healthier they will grow.

D．The deeper they are planted, the stronger they will grow.

3. What helps potatoes grow in the long term?

A．Frost.

B．Plastic.

C．Ridges.

D．Slugs.

4. What’s the text mainly about?

A．How to cook potatoes.	B．How to grow potatoes.
C．How to harvest potatoes.	D．How to preserve potatoes.

8 . 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

9 . 原文填空

Every living thing in nature struggles to survive. Most plants are     1     by animals and people, as well as by other plants, and may have to live in difficult conditions. Plants survive by     2     to life in different environments, and by competing     3     with other living things.

Over time, some plants develop features which help them to survive in particular conditions. Plants with helpful features are more     4     to survive and reproduce. Plants without these features often die out. The process is called natural     5    .

10 . “Consumers complain that the modern tomato has little flavor. It’s like a water bomb,” said Sanwen Huang, who works at the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. “Tomato farmers care about yield, and the genetic variants related to yield are not related to tasty tomato favors.”

How can farmers ditch this unpleasant thing and recover the rich, sweet flavor of the tomato? To find out, Huang and colleagues investigated which genes are related to tomatoes’ taste. The scientists created a 100-person group that sampled 160 tomatoes based on sensory qualities. Based on the group’s feedback, the researchers identified dozens of chemical compounds (化合物) that could be related to the tomato’s taste. Using a statistical model that determined the concentration of various chemicals in the tomatoes, the scientists identified 33 most important flavor compounds. The researchers then measured the content of them in each of the tomatoes, and identified about 250 genetic loci (基因座) that controlled tomato flavor. This finding revealed the genetic basis of tomato flavor.

But the researchers also wanted to determine why store-bought tomatoes don’t taste good. It turns out that modern tomato varieties are selected according to qualities such as big size because buyers prefer large fruit, and firmness because it makes tomatoes easier to ship. Meanwhile, the quality of flavor has been ignored, said the researchers.

Volatiles (挥发性物质), in particular, are essential for good flavor. The removal of specific volatiles from tomatoes results in significant reduction in people’s liking. Moreover, refrigeration can change a tomato’s volatile compounds.

“But there is hope for a future filled with tasty, new varieties of store-bought tomatoes, as our results provide a road map for improvement of flavor. By working together, geneticists, biochemists, farmers and customers can provide better-flavored tomatoes for our society.” Huang said.

1. How does the author present the study in paragraph 2?

A．By giving a definition.	B．By listing figures.
C．By analyzing the cause.	D．By making a comparison.

2. What is the main idea of paragraphs 3-4?

A．The reasons why stores favor such tomatoes.

B．Some qualities consumers prefer in buying tomatoes.

C．The importance of volatiles in deciding tomato flavor.

D．The reasons why store-bought tomatoes have little flavor.

3. Which of the following statements will Huang probably agree with?

A．The store-bought tomatoes have a promising future.

B．Yield-related genetic variants provide tasty tomatoes.

C．Their research has changed a tomato’s volatile compounds.

D．Farmers and customers can certainly provide better-flavored tomatoes.

4. What’s the purpose of the text?

A．To persuade readers to buy tomatoes.

B．To introduce the high yielding tomatoes.

C．To prove store-bought tomatoes are tasteless.

D．To inform readers of the research about tomato flavors.