1 . 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。

Have you ever eaten a “painting”? Here it is, the     1     (tradition) Chinese folk art—sugar painting. Spoon as pen, liquid sugar as ink, everything in the world can be drawn quickly.

As is said, Chen Zi’ang, a great poet in the seventh century (Tang Dynasty), liked to eat brown sugar. But he ate it in     2     unique way. He melted the sugar on a clean and smooth table,     3    (make) it into     4     (variety) of shapes of small animals. After cooling down, it could be held in the hand, eaten and enjoyed. Later, Chen went to the capital city,     5     he brought this art. Since then, sugar painting has become a lasting craft. In the 17th century (Qing Dynasty), sugar painting became     6     (increase) popular, and the production skills     7     (be) more advanced. The objects include flowers and birds, fortune symbols and the 12 zodiac signs and other designs. The art of sugar painting combines food, culture and handicraft. The painting is done in one go without any draft.

The sugar painting     8     (create) today shows greater creativity in forms — Cartoon sugar painting, 3D sugar painting, bringing new life     9     conventional ones. The culture of China, and the spirit of sugar painting,     10     (pass) down through the sugar spoons of generations of craftsmen.

2 . A team of scientists is studying the sound of the forest in Ecuador to learn how artificial intelligence (AI) could follow animal life in recovering environments.

When scientists want to measure new forest growth, they can study large areas of land with tools like satellites. But understanding how fast and in what number wildlife is returning to an area is more difficult. Sometimes it requires an expert to listen through sound recordings and pick out animal calls.

Jorg Muller, an expert on birds, wondered if there was a different way. So, he turned to bioacoustics (生物声学), which uses sound to learn more about animal life and their living environments. Muller and his team recorded wildlife sounds in Ecuador. They first had experts listen to the recordings and list the sounds of different animals. Then, they examined the sound quality to measure the environment. Finally, they ran two weeks of recordings through an AI computer program trained to understand 75 different bird calls.

The program was able to pick out the calls on which it was trained. However, scientists wondered if the program could correctly identify the number of different kinds of plants and animals in each environment. To see if the program could do that, the team used two different controls. One was from the experts who listened to the recordings, and the second was based on examples from each environment, which can be used to understand biodiversity (生物多样性).

Since the number of sounds that are found to be used to train is limited, the AI program could only identify one-fourth of the bird calls experts could. But it was still able to correctly measure biodiversity levels in each environment, the study said. It also said the results show the AI program is a powerful tool to measure the recovery of animal societies in some forests. The study showed that biodiversity found from recordings can be measured in a cost-effective and complete way and measure environments.

There are still areas for improvement, including the lack of animal sounds on which to train AI models. And the method can only catch animals that use sound to communicate.

1. What does the study focus on?

A．Studying plant growth.	B．Observing birds’ behavior.
C．Understanding AI’s effect on wildlife.	D．Measuring wildlife recovery.

2. What method did the team use to learn wildlife sounds in Eduador?

A．Bioacoustics.	B．Satellite recording.
C．Sound recording by AI.	D．Direct observation by experts.

3. What did the AI program prove to be useful for?

A．Identifying plant species.	B．Tracking weather change.
C．Measuring biodiversity levels.	D．Identifying all the bird calls.

4. What did the study suggest for improvements?

A．Measuring more bird environments.

B．Catching animals that use sound to communicate.

C．Training the program on a wider variety of sounds.

D．Having experts study more and understand bird calls.

3 . We are often told that there’s no _________ limit when it comes to pursuing our goals, but it’s truly _________ to see someone achieve them later in life-especially if they are 95 years old.

Angela Alvarez is a Cuban-born singer and songwriter who finally _________ her first album in 2021. Now, she has just won the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist.

Growing up surrounded by music, Alvarez once told her father she wanted to become a (an) _________ singer. However, life wasn’t easy for their family then and she had to _________ her dream of pursuing a career in entertainment for decades, but music was always there to keep her company and bring her _________.

With time, her kids had kids, and one of her grandchildren, Carlos Jose Alvarez, _________ found out that his grandma had _________ over 50 songs throughout her life, he knew that something had to be done. He asked her if she would be interested in going to a studio and _________ her songs. “And her answer was ‘Carlos, my dream is to __________ this life knowing that somehow my music would emerge and last.’ And that was the __________,” Carlos said in an interview.

Alvarez’s story __________ caught the attention of actor Andy Garcia, who decided to become the producer and narrator of Miss Angela, a documentary about this amazing woman. “Her story just blew me away. She __________ a generation, perhaps our generation of Cubans,” said the actor.

The dream reached new __________ as she became nominated (被提名) for a Latin Grammy. When she took to the stage to accept her award, she gave an inspiring speech, “To those who have not achieved their dream, I promise, with __________ and love you can achieve it, it’s never too late.”

1.

A．sex

B．age

C．identity

D．race

2.

A．exciting

B．understanding

C．inspiring

D．surprising

3.

A．released

B．searched

C．created

D．increased

4.

A．ambitious

B．unique

C．professional

D．temporary

5.

A．take up

B．get into

C．bring in

D．put aside

6.

A．comfort

B．concept

C．trouble

D．emotion

7.

A．intentionally

B．accidentally

C．actually

D．obviously

8.

A．hidden

B．cited

C．heard

D．written

9.

A．grasping

B．adapting

C．recording

D．polishing

10.

A．leave

B．continue

C．keep

D．bear

11.

A．conclusion

B．peak

C．ending

D．beginning

12.

A．still

B．never

C．ever

D．even

13.

A．defends

B．represents

C．makes

D．strengthens

14.

A．draft

B．insights

C．heights

D．aspect

15.

A．faith

B．trick

C．competence

D．qualification

4 . For Cruz, who grew up in Peru’s mountainous region of Cuzco, fog represents a massive opportunity. As a boy, he had to hike for more than an hour every day across hills to collect water from the nearest source. But over time, he realized that during the rainy season, droplets of water would gather in the large leaves of banana trees. So one day he and his father tried to build a canal system with the leaves to collect water and it turned out a success. But afterwards, he moved to Lima at the age of 25.

There, shocked by the water shortages and expensive water supply that some of the city’s poorest residents were faced with, Cruz set up El Movimiento Peruanos sin Agua in 2005. The idea was to deploy the method he learned in his hometown on a larger scale, which would provide free, independently sourced and easily accessible water to those who needed it most. He began installing (安装) a traditional fog catcher model developed in the 1980s.

At the highest point of Los Tres Miradores, there is a curious set of large structures that resemble a fleet of ships in the sky. They are so-called “fog catchers”. Netted devices, made of high density Raschel polyethylene and spanning several meters wide, are lined up at the top of a misty mound and linked by a network of tubes that lead to storage containers. The 40 fog catchers there provide enough water for 180 families, whether to bathe, clean, drink or to irrigate crops on small garden patches.

Supporters believe that fog catchers have the potential to improve water supply for communities around the world among the ever-challenging circumstances. German researcher Lummerich says, “They are cheap, easy to construct.” In a world searching for water supply systems, it is one important puzzle piece that can make an essential difference locally.

However, there are some issues. For one, fog catchers require space, which is not always easy to come by in cities, let alone urban slums. At the same time, fog catchers must be properly cleaned and maintained to stay effective. Most crucially, appropriate climate conditions are required. Fog isn’t everywhere.

1. What does the underlined word “deploy” probably mean in paragraph 2?

A．Employ.

B．Adjust.

C．Design.

D．Study.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The reason why Cruz installed fog catchers.

B．The difficulties of constructing a canal system.

C．The installation and benefits of fog catchers.

D．The inspiration Cruz gained to build a canal system.

3. What is the biggest challenge associated with the use of fog catchers?

A．High costs.	B．Public opposition.
C．Space limitation.	D．Climate conditions.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Urban Areas: A Struggle for Sufficient Water

B．Innovative Water Collection Techniques in Peru

C．The Global Water Crisis and Possible Solutions

D．Fog Catchers: A Local Solution with Global Potential

5 . 假如你是李华。在即将升入高三之际，很多学生学习状态不佳，不适应逐渐加快的学习节奏，对未来一片迷茫。学生会邀请你作为学生代表在期末总结大会上给全校师生发表演讲，请你从以下几个方面准备一份英语发言稿。
1.指出现象；
2.具体建议；
注意：
1.写作词数应为80左右；
3.表达祝愿；
2.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Good morning, everyone!

I’m Li Hua. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 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。

You might have heard of Cantonese opera, but have you heard of Nanyin — Fujian’s traditional opera? Traditional Nanyin is performed by five people,     1    (comprise) of one singer and four instrumentalists. The musicians play the dongxiao, nanpa, erxian, and sanxian. In 2009, Nanyin     2    (add) to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

    3    (wander) the streets of Quanzhou, a historical port city, one will often hear slow, soft and pleasant melodies (曲调) coming from a newsstand on a street corner, a grocery store in a marketplace     4    a residential house with its door open.

That’s the sound of Nanyin,     5     ancient music style of Minnan, or southern Fujian Province,     6     can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. One of the country’s oldest music     7    (style), Nanyin (literally meaning “music of the south”) came into being and developed as the culture of central China spread to Quanzhou and integrated with local arts.     8     its melody was often associated with royal court music, it gradually changed to become part of local folk life, and was passed down from generation to generation. Nanyin became “the sounds of hometown and motherland” in the minds of many overseas Chinese who left Quanzhou.

It’s common for its fans     9    (collect) Nanyin albums, organize regional associations of Nanyin enthusiasts, hold salons (沙龙) and set up musical theaters. In Quanzhou alone, there are about 500 music associations devoted to Nanyin’s soft sounds, and more than a dozen festivals and competitions are held     10    (annual) both at home and abroad.

7 . How to write tip-top articles

Articles, like all pieces of writing, can be divided into three sections, a beginning, a middle and an end.

The middle is the biggest part, and from the reader’s point of view it’s the most important — it is where the content lies.     1     It tends to be just a straightforward list of facts or events in time order.

    2     From the writer’s point of view, they need the most thought. Your opening paragraph has to grab the reader’s attention and pull them into piece that follows. It must be consistent with article as a whole and flow seamlessly (连贯流畅地) into it. Beginning give you a chance to shine as a writer.     3    

Endings are as important as introduction, and for the same reason. They are your last chance to impress readers and editors.     4     This can be done by summarizing what’s gone before or looking towards the future. It can work particularly well stylistically (文体上) if the end mirrors the beginning in some way.

The best way to get good at intros and endings is to read a lot of them in a wide variety of magazines and newspapers.     5     Your version will be different because the subject matter will be different.

All the above considered, you are bound to write excellent and impressive articles.

A．It’s also the easiest bit to write.

B．You will keep your writing fresh.

C．Beginnings, by contrast, can be more difficult to do well.

D．If you seize it, the editors may keep coming back to you with more work.

E．That means writing a lot of good beginnings and ends that editors and readers appreciate.

F．So you should conclude the piece with a flourish (华丽辞藻), or a satisfying sense of completion.

G．Whenever you come across one that grabs your attention, copy the style in your own article.

8 . Honeybees are in trouble. While they’ re crucial for promoting biodiversity and producing food for healthy human diets, honeybees face many threats, including habitat loss, climate change, air pollution and disease-causing organisms.

But now, there’s hope for helping honeybees fight back against one of the many stressors they face, a deadly infectious disease known as American foulbrood. To fight the disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved for use the world’s first honeybee vaccine (疫苗), developed by Dalan Animal Health.

Bacteria called Paenibacillus larvae cause American foulbrood, which kills honeybees while they are in the pupal (蛹的) or pre-pupal stage. Until now, there was no “safe and sustainable” way to prevent American foulbrood. The only treatment involved antibiotics (抗生素), which are expensive, have limited effectiveness and take lots of time and energy for beekeepers to apply. To stop the spread, beekeepers are often forced to burn infected bees. That makes the vaccine a game changer.

“Our vaccine is a breakthrough in protecting honeybees,” says Annette Kleiser, CEO of Dalan Animal Health. “We are ready to change how we care for insects, impacting food production on a global level.”

Beekeepers will mix the vaccine, which contains dead P. larvae bacteria cells, into the food that worker bees eat. Then, when the worker bees produce their milky royal jelly (蜂王浆), the queen will eat it and the vaccine. Then, the vaccine will protect her developing offspring from the disease.

Under a conditional license from the USDA, Dalan Animal Health now plans to distribute limited amounts of the vaccine to commercial beekeepers. From there, they hope to offer it for sale throughout the U.S. sometime this year.

The federal agriculture agency awards conditional licenses to products that meet an emergency, situation, limited market, local situation or special circumstance. The USDA requires products that receive these types of licenses to be pure and safe, and have a reasonable expectation of effectiveness. Generally, conditional licenses come with restrictions and cover a limited period of time. Once that period ends, the agency evaluates the product’s effectiveness to determine whether to renew the conditional license or award a regular product license.

1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?

A．To stress the importance of honeybees.

B．To lead to the topic of the passage.

C．To list the threats honeybees face.

D．To arouse readers’ interest.

2. Why is the vaccine called a game changer?

A．Because it has changed the way we care for insects.

B．Because it’s the only treatment for American foulbrood.

C．Because it breaks through the limitations of the former treatment.

D．Because the previous treatment has no effectiveness.

3. What does the “developing offspring” refer to in Paragraph 5?

A．Queen bees.	B．Worker bees.
C．Adult bees.	D．Young bees.

4. What do we know about “conditional licenses” in the last two paragraphs?

A．They promote the commercial success of honeybee vaccine.

B．They guarantee the full effectiveness of products.

C．They can be renewed with no strings attached.

D．They are in effect within a period of time.

9 . 阅读下面材料，根据所给情节和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Jane Brown sat carefully putting papers into a folder. She had been at the Gateway Nature Center’s office all morning and was tired of filing. She wanted desperately to work with the animals. She had been a weekend volunteer that whole school year and had done extensive research, reading books and websites on natural history. But her mom, who was the assistant director of the center, said Jane was still too young.

Suddenly, the quiet was broken by Amy bursting in. She had been a volunteer a bit longer than Jane and wandered around like she owned the place. “Hurry up, Jane,” she ordered. Jane willed herself to remain still and just smiled back.

Just then, Jane’s mother rushed into the room with Mr. White, the manager. “The hurricane is now approaching the Gulf Shore Preserve,” Mrs. Brown reported. “It needs help preparing for it. I have to go down there with the staff. We’ll take the bridge, so we shouldn’t be gone long. I need you girls to help Mr. White get the storm shutters (护窗) down in the aviary (鸟舍). Then, stay inside with Mr. White. Call me on my cellphone if there’re any problems,” Mrs. Brown directed as she rushed out. Jane was excited to have an opportunity to help the birds.

Amy announced she was now “in charge”. Jane smiled again, saying nothing. Mr. White and the girls worked quickly and were soon back inside. But when Mr. White called Jane’s mother, a worried expression crossed his face. “A storm has flooded the bridge, and they’re stuck there. Also, the storm is heading our way,” he said. Amy was frightened. After silently considering for a few seconds, Jane said calmly, “We should move the birds to the reptile house (爬行动物馆). It’s on higher ground.” Mr. White and Amy nodded. They rushed out of the building. Once inside the aviary, Jane watched Amy lunge (猛冲) from cage to cage.

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

Jane told Amy not to jump around so much because the birds would be scared by her sudden movements.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2.

After several hours, the storm stopped, and Mrs. Brown was able to return to the center.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . 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。

The world is filled with people who have different     1     (belief), traditions, and ways of living. It is within our differences     2     we can find beauty. Cultural diversity benefits everyone both in educational and professional environments. It prepares the way for better problem-solving, and more empathy and compassion, and     3     (allow) us to approach the world from different points of view.

When you go out into the world, you will come into contact     4     people from different backgrounds and walks of life. It is important to honor and support cultural diversity with your actions. If you’re unsure how you can take action to do so, consider the     5     (follow) ideas: Interact with people outside of your culture; be     6     (prepare) to listen and free yourself of judgment; if you see anyone who is being     7     (cultural) insensitive, speak out against it; accept that differences are     8     (benefit) and not harmful; don’t force your opinions on people with opposing ones; travel the world as much as you can     9     (experience) different cultures and understand them at source; read literature and learn from different cultures; learn     10     new language and communicate in a friend’s native language rather than your own.