2 . 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。

On the north bank of Fuxian Lake in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province sits a straw-hat-shaped mountain     1     (call) Maotian Mountain,     2     a 512-hectare site is praised as a “world-class treasure trove of fossils” by the international scientific community. On July 1,1984, young paleontologists in China discovered a fossil of the arthropod (节肢动物化石) with a long tail in Maotian Mountain. “    3     we had studied in China were just shell of fossils. The arthropods, lifelike fossils with legs, which belonged to fossils of soft-bodied animals, are     4     game changer in the research of China’s paleontology (古生物学)”, Hou Xianguang, a paleontologist said.

Scientists have obtained a large number of research results on Chengjiang Fossil Site. The reason why Chengjiang fauna (动物群) is     5     great significance is that it is closely related to the emergence of the animal tree of life.

Up to now, more than 20 phyla and more than 280 species     6     (record)in the Chengjiang Fossil Site, of which, 80% are new species. On July 1, 2012, the Chengjiang Fossil Site     7     (be) inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO,     8     (become) China’ s first World Heritage Site for paleontological fossils.

The UNESCO evaluation says the Chengjiang Fossil Site is one of the     9     (early) records of a complex marine ecosystem of the early Cambrian communities. The property displays excellent quality of fossil     10     (preserve). It presents an exceptional record of the rapid diversification of life on Earth during the early Cambrian period.

3 . The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland has suffered several mass bleaching events due to the impacts of climate change. The Australian government turned down a proposal for a new open-cut coal mine near the Great Barrier Reef, considering environmental laws and the risk of “irreversible damage”. It was the first time the government had used its powers under environmental laws to reject a mine.

In turning down the project, Tanya Plibersek, the minister for the environment and water, cited significant potential environmental dangers to the reef, which is already heavily threatened by climate change.” The risk of pollution is real and the damage to the reef, once done, will never be repaired. “The project would have had unacceptable impacts on freshwater in the area and potentially on fragile seagrass meadows,” Plibersek said in a video posted on social media. She said that during the public consultation period, her department had received 9,000 public comments about the mine in just 10 business days.

The government has been under pressure from UNESCO to better protect the reef and in 2022, it pledged one billion Australian dollars for efforts to protect the fragile ecosystem, including climate adaptation measures and water quality programs. Last year, the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches for more than 2,300 kilometers, experienced its sixth mass bleaching event, due to warming waters caused by climate change.

The government, elected in 2022, came to power promising stronger action on the climate in a country still heavily depending on fossil fuels. But its climate policies are rated “insufficient” by Climate Action Tracker, which found Australia is not on course to meet targets to limit warming to 1. 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The government has rejected calls from the country’s Green Party to turn down all new fossil fuel projects.

1. Which of the following can replace “irreversible” in paragraph 1?

A．Permanent.

B．Gradual.

C．Severe.

D．Significant.

2. Which statement would Plibersek probably agree with?

A．The reef is in good condition now.

B．9,000 people made good comments on the mining project.

C．The mining project has drawn the attention of the public.

D．The mining project has had bad effects on freshwater in the area.

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Fossil fuels are not in demand in Australia.

B．The government has made effective climate policies.

C．The government failed to carry out its previous promises.

D．The Green Party reached an agreement with the government.

4. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．The Great Barrier Reef is faced with mass bleaching events.

B．Australia is on the way to protecting the Great Barrier Reef.

C．The Great Barrier Reef calls for help due to climate change.

D．Australia says “No” to a mine near the Great Barrier Reef.

5 . The black cloud rising every day at sunset in the Chihuahuan Desert went largely ignored for thousands of years. Native Americans noticed it, but did not track its source. Cowboys thought the cloud was smoke pouring from the earth, and avoided it.

In June of 1901, however, a teenage cowboy named Jim White happened to see the large, black cloud. He was curious and went to investigate. Instead of finding a volcano, as he had imagined, he discovered something equally amazing. It was a big mass of bats. Two days later, he returned with a lantern to explore further. It took him so long that his lantern went out. He managed to refill it with just enough oil to find his way back to the entrance.

The next time Jim White went to the cave, he brought a friend and supplies. They explored for three days and returned with descriptions that were so fantastic that few people believed them. The cowboys on nearby farms and the people in the tiny town of Carlsbad treated Jim’s stories as tall tales and nothing more.

After years of exploring the caves and finding no one to believe his stories, Jim White decided to create his own tourist attraction. He established trails (路线) along the paths he had found. One day in 1915, two men asked Jim for a tour. After seeing the caves, the men returned with a professional photographer named Ray V. Davis. Local doubts were finally put to rest by the photographs of the hidden beauty that Jim had discovered. All 13 locals of Carlsbad finally took a tour of the caves, which came to be known as Carlsbad Caverns.

In 1923, the government sent an official named Robert Holly to tour the caves. Later that year, the caves were stated a national monument (古迹), and in 1930 they became a national park. Jim White lived to see the Carlsbad Caverns become world-famous. Today, tourists can hike to and tour some of the 100 known caves in this huge natural wonder, thanks to the cowboy from New Mexico.

1. What do we know about the black cloud?

A．It was discovered in 1901.	B．It was noticed by accident.
C．It was actually a mass of bats.	D．It was smoke from the earth.

2. Who joined Jim’s third exploration?

A．Jim’s friend.	B．A photographer.
C．Robert Holly.	D．13 locals of Carlsbad.

3. What can we conclude about the public’s recognition of Carlsbad Caverns?

A．It made Jim White rich.	B．It was an easy process.
C．It happened before 1915.	D．It came true thanks to the photos.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A Brave Cowboy	B．A Hidden Wonder
C．A Worthwhile Invention	D．A Nationwide Contribution

6 . The following properties which the World Heritage Committee has decided to include on the List of World Heritage are in danger according to Article 11 (4) of the Convention (公约).

Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Virunga National Park, covering an area of 790,000 ha., includes an outstanding diversity of habitats, ranging from swamps and steppes (沼泽和平原) to the snowfields. Mountain gorillas are also found in the park.

Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley (Afghanistan)

The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley stand for the artistic and religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria. The area contains a number of Buddhist monastic ensembles (佛教寺院), as well as strong buildings from the Islamic period.

Okapi Wildlife Reserve (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

The Okapi Wildlife Reserve occupies about one-fifth of the Ituri forest in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The reserve contains threatened species of primates and birds surviving in the wild. It also has some amazing scenery, including waterfalls on the Ituri and Epulu rivers. The reserve is inhabited by traditional nomadic pygmy Mbuti and Efe hunters.

Historic Center of Vienna (Austria)

Vienna developed from early Celtic and Roman settlements into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It played an important role as a leading European music center, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century.

1. Which of the following world heritage sites is located in Afghanistan?

A．Virunga National Park.	B．Historic Centre of Vienna.
C．Okapi Wildlife Reserve.	D．Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley.

2. What’s the characteristic of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve?

A．It’s closely related to Buddhism.	B．It has some fascinating natural scenery.
C．It has an outstanding variety of habitats.	D．It plays an important role as a leading music center.

3. What do the four world heritage sites have in common?

A．They are all in danger.	B．They are open to the public.
C．They are inhabited by local people.	D．They are to be removed from the World Heritage List.

7 . John “Charlie” Veron-widely known as “the Godfather of Coral Reef (珊瑚礁)”-is a celebrated expert who has personally discovered nearly a quarter of the world’s coral species and has spent the past 45 years diving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. But now the 73-year-old is raising the alarm about its future. The Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders, is 2, 300 kilometers long and is the only living organism that can be seen from space. It is considered a World Treasure Site due to its biodiversity (生物多样性)with 30 species of whales, dolphins and sharks. Within the reef itself, there are also a number of tiny organisms and fishes.

However, its health is threatened. After the recent mass bleaching (白化)events, Veron dived in many areas of the Great Barrier Reef to see the damage for himself. “I was seeing and feeling it and it was absolutely shocking, ” he says.

Veron says the mass bleaching events in the past few years-and the possibility of losing one of nature’s greatest treasures-were a wake-up call for the world in the wider battle against climate change, which, together with the rising sea temperature, is considered the greatest threats to the reef.

Fortunately, earlier this year, the Australian government announced nearly 400 million dollars in new funding towards scientific projects designed to help the reef.

There has been criticism in Australia about the slow process for the funding. “It won’t be wasted, though,”Veron says. “As scientists will be able to create a sort of seed bank to protect the species until the climate is good enough to rebuild the reef. What the scientists hope to do is to help nature along a bit after the big carbon dioxide increase is over and it starts to come down.”

1. Why is the Great Barrier Reef considered a treasure site?

A．It is a natural wonder.

B．It can be seen from space.

C．It has a rich variety of species.

D．It is home to a great many fishes.

2. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．Climate change is threatening biodiversity.

B．The Great Barrier Reef is in danger of extinction.

C．Scientists have found major factors in the reef’s blenching.

D．Veron has made great contributions to environmental protection.

3. What's Veron's attitude to the future of the reef according to the last paragraph?

A．Uncaring.

B．Doubtful.

C．Uncertain.

D．Positive.

4. What is the text?

A．A news report.	B．A travel guide.
C．A research plan.	D．A journal entry.

8 . 你校英文报正在进行主题为“World Cultural Heritage in China”的征文活动，请你写一篇短文投稿，介绍一项中国的世界文化遗产（如长城、故宫、莫高窟、兵马俑、西湖……）。内容包括：
1. 基本情况；
2. 文化特色。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 题目自拟。
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9 . 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。

Over the last 100 years, many dinosaur egg fossils(化石)     1    (find), but finding one with a well-preserved embryo(胚胎) inside is extremely rare. A dinosaur embryo     2    (date) back to 66 million years ago was recently discovered in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. The    3    (perfect) preserved fossil is helping researchers understand the link between modern birds and their dinosaur ancestors.

The egg,     4    was named “Baby Yingliang”, is placed in the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum in Fujian Province. The creature     5    (measure) 27 centimeters from head to tail, and it lies inside a 17-centimeter-long egg. Its position within the egg indicates that these dinosaurs developed     6    birdlike position close to hatching, according to the study published in the journal iScience in 2021. 

Paleontologists believe it belongs to a toothless dinosaur     7    (call) Oviraptor. They had varied beaks(喙) and body sizes,     8    they can adopt a wide range of diets. Team member Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, told China Daily that this little dinosaur looks just like a baby bird in its egg, providing more evidence that many features of today’s birds first evolved in their ancestors.

Dinosaur embryos are some of the rarest fossils and most of them are incomplete with the bones dislocated. The embryo is preserved     9    great condition and helps us answer many questions about dinosaurs’     10    (grow).

10 . Humans are responsible for 25% to 40% more of the total share of methane emissions(甲烷排放)than previously estimated, according to a new study in Nature.

Methane is one of the most powerful and effective greenhouse gases: about 28 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. It's responsible for about a quarter of global warming. It's produced naturally by animals, volcanoes, and wetlands, but it's also a byproduct of oil and gas production. It's this last form of methane that the study focused on.

Researchers used ice core measurements from Greenland from 1750 to 2013, plus previous data from Antarctica. They melted the ice to let the small quantities of ancient air trapped inside come out. These act a bit like time capsules,allowing us to learn about the methane in the atmosphere at the time. They used carbon-14, which comes from living things, as a substitute(替代物)to determine whether the methane they found came from biological sources. Until 1870, around the time when we started using fossil(化石)fuels, almost all methane came from these sources. After that, there was a rise in methane that didn't have any carbon-14, from ancient fossil sources in which carbon-14 had disappeared. That allowed the researchers to compare natural methane with methane caused by human activity.

If more methane is created by humans, there's an even bigger opportunity to control how much we release. Methane stays in the atmosphere for only a decade(compared with 200 years for carbon dioxide). So efforts to cut methane, which mostly comes from the production and transportation of gas and oil, could bring great benefit right away.

1. Which methane source does the study focus on?

A．Animals.

B．Wetlands.

C．Volcanoes.

D．Fossil fuels.

2. What can we learn from this text?

A．Methane comes mainly from animals and wetlands.

B．There is more methane than carbon dioxide in the air.

C．Fossil fuels have been used about a century and a half.

D．Methane will remain permanently in the atmosphere.

3. What is the author's attitude towards methane control?

A．Optimistic.

B．Skeptical.

C．Disappointed.

D．Unconcermed

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

A．Fossil Fuels Cause Global Pollution

B．Humans Produce More Methane than We Thought

C．Methane Is the Biggest Cause for Global Warming

D．Carbon Dioxide Has Less Impact on Climate than Methane