1 . To produce the classic clothing, blue jeans, producers rely on indigo dye (靛蓝染料), the only molecule known to provide jeans’ unique, beloved color. While indigo itself naturally comes from a plant, growing demand for blue jeans throughout the 20th century gave rise to synthetic (合成的) indigo, which is now more commonly used.

Indigo is the dye that makes jeans blue, but it doesn’t mix with water. To dye clothes, usually, chemicals are needed to make the color stick to the cloth. But in Denmark, scientists have created a new way to dye clothes using an enzyme (酶), which is a kind of protein that can cause chemical reactions, instead of harmful chemicals. This new method is better for the environment and doesn’t use poisonous stuff.

The chemical process for dyeing blue jeans has persisted for the last century. Workers are exposed to the poisonous chemicals, which also pollute the environment near factories. Waste water from those factories often ends up in waterways, decimating local ecosystems and even dyeing rivers blue.

Ditte Hededam Welner, the study’s lead researcher, says their new enzyme works really well and is strong enough for making lots of jeans without breaking down. This enzyme makes dyeing with indican, which is like indigo, much less harmful to the planet — about 92% better than the old way.

However, the new method doesn’t fix all the environmental problems of making jeans. Making a single pair of jeans uses a lot of water — enough to fill many bathtubs — from growing the cotton to putting the final touches on the jeans.

Even though the new dyeing process is better for the environment, it’s not always easy or cheap to change to it. Welner’s team isn’t sure if jeans companies will find it easy or affordable to switch to this method. It costs a little bit more — just seven cents extra per pair of jeans — to use the enzyme for dyeing. But Welner believes it’s worth it because it’s much better for the environment.

1. Why was synthetic indigo created in the 20th century?

A．It made jeans’ color unique.	B．It was easy to dye cloth with it.
C．People liked jeans made from it.	D．People were in greater need of jeans.

2. What does the underlined word “decimating” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Troubling.

B．Entering.

C．Destroying.

D．Defeating.

3. Which is an advantage of the new method?

A．The colour is more beautiful than the synthetic indigo.

B．The market can keep stable goods supplies.

C．Enzyme facilitates the advance of science.

D．The dye is more environmentally friendly.

4. What makes Welner worried about the new method?

A．Production costs.	B．Environmental benefits.
C．Water consumption.	D．Laborer shortage.

2 . I have had no interest in football for as long as I can remember. While my classmates played, I _________ to stay in the library. I never _________ the passion for the game and would throw away the sports section of the newspaper, as if it _________ the rest of it. As I grew up, I proudly wore my _________ .

But occasionally, whether in a taxi or when meeting a friend's father, I found myself faced with a _________ opener like, “Terrible season we’re having, eh?” or simply, “Who do you support?” My heart sank, knowing my response would unavoidably _________ them, despite their good intentions.

I realized that my _________ had closed off many conversations, outings, and even potential friendships I might have _________ enjoyed. Although I couldn't change the fact that I found football boring, I began to regret being a(n) _________ .

Then I became a father. I didn’t want my boy to __________ this valuable social experience, so I took him to watch the Lions play. During those matches, we sat close to the field, surrounded by families who had a genuine __________ with the players. My kid’s questions kept me somewhat __________ in the game. Slowly, I started to__________ for the Lions.

During one victorious match, we even met David, the Captain, who happily __________ for a photo with my son. __________, I had an answer to the question,“Who do you support?”

1.

A．preferred

B．intended

C．wished

D．pretended

2.

A．believed

B．understood

C．noticed

D．hid

3.

A．confused

B．poisoned

C．defended

D．preserved

4.

A．doubt

B．smile

C．confidence

D．dislike

5.

A．well-informed

B．well-prepared

C．well-meant

D．well-presented

6.

A．challenge

B．disturb

C．amuse

D．disappoint

7.

A．attitude

B．personality

C．interest

D．habit

8.

A．otherwise

B．ever

C．still

D．therefore

9.

A．loser

B．fan

C．outsider

D．passer-by

10.

A．go wild for

B．turn away from

C．get the hang of

D．miss out on

11.

A．agreement

B．conversation

C．competition

D．connection

12.

A．stressed

B．engaged

C．successful

D．busy

13.

A．cheer

B．change

C．vote

D．play

14.

A．danced

B．waved

C．posed

D．clapped

15.

A．Gradually

B．Finally

C．Unexpectedly

D．Luckily

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。

“All suspects reportedly     1     (involve) in the killing of a middle school student by classmates in Feixiang district of Handan, Hebei province, have been arrested”, according to a statement by local authorities on Sunday night.

The Beijing News reported that over the past months, this case of the 13-year-old boy, inhumanly killed by his three classmates,     2     (cause) anger and furious debate on juvenile crime.

The victim and his classmates are “left-behind children”,     3     term used to describe kids in China who live with their grandparents in rural areas     4     their parents work in the cities. The victim went missing in the afternoon of 10 March. The local government said the boy likely died on the same day. “He had been bullied by his three classmates for a long time”, said the family’s lawyer, Zang Fanqing, in a Weibo post on Monday. Under questioning by authorities, the three led police to the boy’s body, after     5     (initial) denying that they knew     6     it was buried.

The case has triggered an outpouring of grief on social media, with     7     (ten) of thousands of posts on Weibo and Douyin over the weekend. “The whole country is watching this case. I hope the police can be fair and give the     8     (victim) family a satisfying answer and that the suspects must be punished     9     their young age,” one user said in a comment, which got 50,000 likes. Many in the comments also demanded that the suspects     10     (punish) harshly. Police are still investigating the motive for the killing.

4 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。

On a cold winter day years ago, I slipped in the snow in the wilderness and broke my legs. As I lay on the ground, unable to move my body, I believed I was fated to freeze to death. My dog, Becky, however, didn't run away. Instead, she determined to save me. She lay on top of me to keep me warm for many hours, barking continually until help arrived, long after I lost consciousness. Eventually, I was saved.　　

A few cold winters later, Becky was discovered to have a baseball-sized lump (肿块) on her belly. Before long, my husband Bob took Becky for surgery to remove the lump. To take care of my babies, I had to stay at home, filled with anxious thoughts. After her surgery, when Bob left to pick her up, it was snowing heavily. Becky could barely walk, so Bob carried her.　　

They couldn't get in the door easily because Becky was wearing a big, hard plastic cone(圆锥体) around her neck to prevent her from licking her sutures (伤口缝合线). I held the door wide open. She was sad and crying. There was snow inside her cone. It took over five minutes to get them in because Becky shook her head wildly to try to remove the cone. The sound of the con e hitting the door made her panic and cry even louder.　　

Once inside, she was so frightened that she kept her tail between her legs. She thought she had done something wrong. Her expression said, “I’m sorry for what I did that led to me having to wear this.” Because of her surgery, Becky wouldn't take her special treat of a cube of cheese. She wouldn’t sit or lie down. All she did was stand and cry. “How long will she have to wear it ?” I asked. “Two weeks,” Bob replied.

“It’s my turn to take good care of her, just as she did for me years ago,” I thought.

Paragraph 1:

Then, I stayed with her on the floor, helping her get through her firs tough night.

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Paragraph 2:

Eventually, the day arrived when Bob took her to have her sutures removed.

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5 . In 1980, Foley was a new nurse, working the night shift in a maternity ward (产房). One night, a baby girl was born with a _________ congenital (天生的) disorder that affected her brain. She was _________ to die soon.

As Foley had seen in similar cases, babies in this _________ were often placed in a bassinet (摇篮) and received little _________ until they died. But Foley said Nancy Allspach, a colleague of hers, had a _________ approach.

“She went into the nursery multiple times through the shift and _________ that baby,” Foley recalled. “She put her _________ right down next to the baby, and she talked to the baby. And she even _________ the baby a bottle and rocked her in the big rocking chair. And she _________ the baby as though she were her own.”

Foley __________ remembers how the baby was treated, and how the mother was treated, too. Over her nearly 50-year __________ as a registered nurse, Foley has __________ many babies and children who died later. And looking back, she said she always tried to treat both the children and their parents with compassion (同情)—the way she __________ from Nancy Allspach.

“I never forgot the importance of touching and being __________ to the baby or the child, and also the parents,” she said. “Because, at that moment, what they need is __________. And Nancy taught me that.”

1.

A．fancy

B．severe

C．mild

D．joyful

2.

A．encouraged

B．forced

C．considered

D．managed

3.

A．atmosphere

B．point

C．concept

D．condition

4.

A．attention

B．commitment

C．contribution

D．improvement

5.

A．passive

B．different

C．fatal

D．broad

6.

A．spoiled

B．ranked

C．held

D．put

7.

A．face

B．foot

C．ear

D．back

8.

A．showed

B．bought

C．drank

D．fed

9.

A．noticed

B．treated

C．defeated

D．kept

10.

A．clearly

B．hardly

C．normally

D．carefully

11.

A．request

B．ambition

C．plan

D．career

12.

A．met with

B．looked at

C．cared for

D．picked up

13.

A．heard

B．learned

C．received

D．borrowed

14.

A．polite

B．familiar

C．similar

D．close

15.

A．compassion

B．destination

C．example

D．competition

6 . Chinese food is well-known for its rich sorts and distinct flavors from different areas. This article highlights four classic dishes that represent the wide range of Chinese cooking.

Dongpo pork

Dongpo pork is a delicious dish from Zhejiang Province, China. It’s made by cooking streaky pork (五花肉) slowly with ingredients like soy sauce, ginger, and sugar. This makes the meat very soft and full of flavor. The tasty sauce is great for mixing with rice. The dish is named after a famous poet, Su Dongpo.

Hot candied milk tofu

Hot candied milk tofu is a sweet specialty from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is crisp (酥脆的) on the outside and soft on the inside. It tastes sweet and is suitable for people of all ages to eat. It’s also great for getting more calcium.

Steamed Chinese cabbage in supreme soup

Steamed Chinese cabbage in supreme soup is a famous Sichuan cuisine. It is made with the hearts of Chinese cabbage from the north. It’s cooked with chicken, duck, and pork bones to make a clear flavourful soup, which is seasoned with minced chicken or pork. Some chicken oil is drizzled on top. The Chinese cabbage, cooked in the soup, keeps its crisp freshness and soaks up (吸收) the soup, offering a tasty experience.

Steamed fish head with chopped hot chilli peppers

In Hunan Province, the love for spicy food is obvious in a famous traditional dish, steamed fish head with chopped hot chilli peppers. The fish head is marinated (腌) with a generous amount of red chilli peppers and then steamed to perfection. The combination of the fish’s natural freshness and the chilli peppers’ heat creates an unforgettable taste experience.

1. What is the first dish named after?

A．A famous chef.	B．A historical figure.
C．A traditional festival.	D．A specific cooking technique.

2. Which dish uses several kinds of meat as ingredients?

A．Dongpo pork.

B．Hot candied milk tofu.

C．Steamed Chinese cabbage in supreme soup.

D．Steamed fish head with chopped hot chilli peppers.

3. What are the key tastes of steamed fish head with chopped hot chilli peppers?

A．Sweet and sour.	B．Sweet and fresh.
C．Salty and sweet.	D．Spicy and fresh.

7 . Since the old times, art has always been with us. Art has always been very important to people. It shows our feelings, ideas, and what we see around us. From the first simple cave drawings to the latest computer art, the way art has changed is a very interesting part of human history.

    1     This was a time when art was really amazing. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo made art that went beyond what was done before. They made beautiful things that also showed a new way of looking at the human body, how things look from different angles, and how light works.

But art is more than just pretty. Art isn’t just about looking nice.     2     In history, artists have used their art to ask questions about how society works, and to show they don’t agree with things. For instance, in times of significant social movements, art on walls and posters became a way for people to show they wanted changes.

Art can make us think and inspire us to do different things. In the 1900s, artists started making abstract art.     3     Artists like Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky used shapes and colors in new ways to make us feel emotions and think about ideas without showing real things.

How art grows also shows how technology gets better over time.     4     Digital art can be anything made with a computer or shown online. It has changed what we think art is. It also lets more people see and make art because you just need a computer to do it.

Art serves as a universal medium for the exchange of ideas, transcending (超越) language and cultural barriers. It allows for a form of communication that is accessible to all. It is away of sharing ideas with everyone.     5    

A．Take the oldest art as an example.

B．Take the Renaissance as an example.

C．People can understand it, no matter where they are from.

D．It means they tried to paint a lot of pictures to make a living.

E．This means they didn’t try to paint pictures of things we know.

F．Nowadays, with computers and the Internet, art is changing again.

G．It can also say important things about society and can help change things.

8 . Stress often occurs when humans have too much work or are in immediate danger. We communicate our stress to others through our behavior and physiological changes. Thus, stress can communicate information and even be useful for survival in certain situations. On the other hand, the massive spread of stress frequently leads to dangerous situations in groups, such as mass panic.

However, not only humans, but also animals can experience and spread stress. This is the present research focus of Dr Hanja Brand l from the University of Konstanz.

“It has been repeatedly shown that stress can be spread from one human to another,” Brand l says. “Often, a similarly strong physiological response is triggered, even though you have never experienced the stress yourself.” But what is known about stress among animals? Brand l concludes other animals in the group can be just as stressed as the friend who experienced something bad. Stress is evolutionarily deeply rooted and the process is similar in all vertebrates (脊椎动物).

When are animals stressed? To be mentioned primarily are naturally occurring threats to which they are exposed, such as natural enemies. Human influences raise the level of stress. “Increasing changes in the habitat or noise and light pollution also have an impact as these massively influence the environment of the animals.” Brand l explains. “Animals are flexible and can adapt to situations. But at some point, the stress response—the adaptations that otherwise help animals better escape stressors like enemies—no longer gives them a survival advantage,” she adds.

This not only endangers the animals’ health, but also changes the social structure of groups. “If we know how the underlying mechanisms (机制) work, we can better protect animals,” says Brandl.

For humans, too, insights from the animal world are useful, she says. “With humans, we can’t measure the functionality of groups under stress well in natural scenes.” Therefore, Brandl is now continuing her studies. In the future, this will make it easier to respond to and help with the spread of stress in groups of people.

1. What can we learn about stress from paragraph 1?

A．Stress is both good and bad.

B．Group living. can easily cause stress.

C．Each individual reacts differently to stressful situations.

D．Poor communication is one of the biggest causes of stress.

2. What does the underlined word “triggered” probably mean in paragraph 3?

A．Ignored.

B．Eased.

C．Caused.

D．Transformed.

3. What can humans do to help animals reduce stress?

A．Supply food to them.

B．Make them live in groups.

C．Protect their habitat from being destroyed.

D．Provide opportunities for them to practice their survival skills.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A pet magazine.	B．A news website.
C．A book review.	D．A technical forum.

9 . Arsh believes in the importance of making the world a more beautiful place. The talented boy not only paints but also sells his artwork and donates the money.

It all started when his parents bought him a set of painting tools for his 8th birthday. Once he had his own materials, he began spending much of his free time putting color on his canvas. As Arsh’s paintings began to grow in number, he decided to give them as gifts to friends and family. Receiving a positive response from people around him, he soon realized his pieces had the potential to get much more than smiles and praise.

His light-bulb moment came shortly after: he would sell his artwork and donate the money to charity. His first plan was to raise $1,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which he accomplished in around nine months by selling his paintings on social media and at local art shows. Since then, he’s broadened his reach to benefit other organizations, including childhood cancer nonprofit Compass to Care and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He’s raised over $16,000 for charities so far.

Arsh’s artwork is often colorful and cheery, as one might expect from a youngster, but it showcases the impressive technique of a gifted artist. Some pieces are more abstract in nature; others feature realistic renditions (演绎) of flowers and animals. They range in size and complexity, and, accordingly, price. Small paintings might sell for $10 while larger canvases, up to five feet, have gone for $800.

Last year, Arsh won The Diana Award, an honor presented by a UK charity founded on Princess Diana’s belief that young people have the power to change their country. And the young artist has advice for other kids looking to make a difference. “Helping others doesn’t have to be, like, money or anything. It can be your time, your skills, your talent,” he says, “and overall, just be kind to other people to make their day better.”

1. What made Arsh interested in painting?

A．A birthday present from his parents.	B．His parents’ deep love for painting.
C．The encouragement of others around him.	D．His fascination with the beauty of nature.

2. Why did Arsh decide to sell his artwork?

A．To pay for his painting materials.	B．To get more attention from others.
C．To attract children’s interest in art.	D．To help those people who are in need.

3. What can we learn about Arsh from the text?

A．His fundraising plan is going well.

B．He will turn his attention to his studies.

C．All his paintings sell at high prices now.

D．He is going to teach other children to paint for free.

4. What does Arsh want to say in the last paragraph?

A．Every child has a unique talent.

B．Everyone has the ability to help others.

C．Talent plays an important role in learning art.

D．Helping others is the responsibility of young artists.

10 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

In 2018, 17-year-old Hemesh spent a life-changing summer with his grandmother Anne, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Witnessing the impact of the disease firsthand, Hemesh was awakened to the seriousness of the situation.

One night, Hemesh walked into the kitchen only to discover that his grandmother had left the gas stove (炉) on after making tea. Shocked by the dangerous consequences Alzheimer’s disease could bring about, he couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if he hadn’t been there.

Hemesh’s worries increased as he observed his grandmother’s behavior. She would wake up in the early hours of the morning, believing she was on a train, and wander outside aimlessly. This wandering tendency could potentially lead her to get lost or put herself in risky situations.

Determined to make a difference, Hemesh engaged himself in extensive research about Alzheimer’s disease and its symptomatic (症状的) progression. Through his studies, he discovered that wandering was a common problem among dementia patients, especially those with Alzheimer’s disease.

Inspired by his newfound knowledge and fueled by his desire to help, Hemesh told his family, “I can’t just stand by and watch this happen. I need to do something to keep Grandma safe. I think I have an idea that might help not just her, but others in similar situations.”

With firm determination, he developed an inventive answer to the wandering dilemma, a device he called the Guardian Companion. It was a wearable device, similar to a smartwatch, specifically designed for Alzheimer’s patients. It integrated advanced GPS technology and a panic button to assist those who tended to wander, ensuring their safety and well-being. After the device got its official approval, Hemesh happily went to try it on for his grandmother.

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

As Anne put on the Guardian Companion, Hemesh explained how it worked.

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In the next few weeks, the device made a difference to Anne and her family.

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