1 . There has been a recent wave in Hollywood where studios take popular animated (动画的) films and “improve” upon them by changing them into live-action remakes. The thought that live-action movies are better because they follow the laws of the natural world degrades the style of animation.

The beauty of animation is that its use of caricatures (漫画) and exaggerations (夸张) reflects an amazing amount of creative depth in characters stories that reality cannot. Looking at the bigger picture, it becomes clear that the true purpose of Disney’s ever growing list of live-action remakes is not to comment on the value of animation, although it indirectly does, but a quick way to take advantage of nostalgic (怀旧的) fans.

For evidence, look no further than Disney’s 2019 The Lion King live-action remake, a retelling of the 1994 animated classic. It broke several box office records, raking in a whopping $543.6 million globally in box office sales alone. However, in comparison to the original, the audience satisfaction with the remake decreased greatly on Rotten Tomatoes. This is similar to the the remakes of Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Dumbo, Aladdin, and the countless other live-action remakes Disney has produced within the last 5 years. This means that Disney no longer needs to come up with new and original content because they can make a big profit just by taking beloved stories and remaking them.

In fact, Disney looks at itself as a business, and therefore considers making a profit as one of their main aims.

The problem with this mentality (心态) is that, while Disney makes a huge profit, audiences, artists, and art suffer. They may no longer create new stories or art styles, but rather serve as money-making machines that require directors to produce the same stories with a fresh coat of paint every 10 years or so. If this cycle continues, artists will be held back from creating new lovable characters and stories full of creativity. The feeling of nostalgia when we see old Disney films could possibly never happen-to newer generations if this cycle does not stop.

1. What does the author think of live-action remakes?

A．They slow down Hollywood development.

B．They’ve failed to become a popular art form.

C．They are poor at showing the beauty of nature.

D．They destroy the artistic expression of animation.

2. What makes animation attractive?

A．It bases its stories on reality.	B．It uses many special effects.
C．It explores characters fully.	D．It brings back fans’ memories.

3. Why does the author mention the live-action remakes in paragraph 3?

A．To tell us Disney has given up its originality.

B．To show Disney has focused more on making money.

C．To prove too many remakes have been produced.

D．To show audiences have high expectations of remakes.

4. What is wrong with Disney’s choice?

A．It reduces Disney’s incomes.	B．It demands more from directors.
C．It hurts new-generation audiences.	D．It causes artists to be less creative.

2 . ________ his life to the realization of social equality, the former President Nelson Mandela set a good example for all of us.

A．Having devoted

B．Devoted

C．To be devoted

D．Being devoted

3 . The disease that is going around is thought           in the southwest.

A．to have originated	B．to originate
C．to have been originated	D．to be originated

4 . Every year, millions of monarch butterflies migrate 3,000 miles to Mexico from North America. “Everybody knows about the monarchs’ migration,” says Andy Davis, an animal ecologist at the University of Georgia. “But one of the things that we still don’t understand is how they’re capable of making such tremendous flight while being such small animals with limited energy.” Amazingly, some of the monarch’s continent-spanning magic may be owed to the size of its wing spot, according to a study published in PLOS One.

The question of how color influences the monarch’s flight began when Mostafa Hassanalian, a professor of mechanical engineering, published a paper about how the colors on the wings of the albatross (信天翁) might help it fly for longer distances. The black on the top of the bird’s wings absorbs more solar energy, creating a pocket of warm air; the white on the bottom absorbs less. Together, the opposite colors create more lift and less drag, helping the albatross to fly up more efficiently.

Motivated by Hassanalian’s paper, Andy Davis contacted him and they teamed up with three other experts to investigate whether the orange, black. and white patterns on North American monarch butterflies’ wings influenced their flight distance. Specifically, they explored whether these color patterns determined how far the butterflies could fly. They discovered that surviving migratory monarchs had 3% less black pigment (色素) and 3% more white pigment a surprising contrast from the albatross. They also observed larger white spots on Eastern monarchs, which migrate farther than Western and Floridian populations, along with deeper shades of orange. The team assumed that these color patterns might offer an aerodynamic (空气动力) advantage, although the reason for the larger white spots remains unknown.

Should the connection between white markings and flight performance prove true, they plan to apply it to drone technology. “If small coloration (自然色彩) effects can improve like 10% of your efficiency, that’s a lot,” Hassanalian says, “Another aspect is that your drone would be able to carry more, because this coloration helps it gain extra lift.” The enhancement could also benefit other aircraft, but he points out one warning: planes fly at a much faster speed than butterflies, so coloration may not be as relevant to them.

Other butterfly scientists have reacted to their work with both enthusiasm and skeptlesm. “It is a totally new idea and it’s quite exciting,” says Marcus Kronforst, an evolutionary biologist. “I’ve worked on butterfly color patterns my whole life, basically, and never, never considered this. It’s never crossed my mind that it might influence how the butterflies fly.”

1. According to Andy Davis, what remains a mystery of the monarchs’ migration?

A．How the monarchs manage the migration.

B．Why the monarchs make the migration.

C．Why the monarchs migrate to Mexico

D．How the monarchs choose the route.

2. Why are the colors on the wings of the albatross mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．To reveal the mechanism of the albatross’ flight.

B．To show Hassanalian’s achievements in albatross study.

C．To indicate where the researchers drew their inspiration.

D．To introduce common color patterns of the albatross’ wings.

3. What assumption can be drawn from Eastern monarchs’ color patterns?

A．They reduce orange pigment.	B．They limit migration distance.
C．They resemble albatross spots.	D．They offer extra lift for migration.

4. How did the researchers draw the conclusion?

A．By conducting an experiment.	B．By making comparisons.
C．By doing field research.	D．By studying models.

5. How does Hassanalian feel about the application of the coloration effects?

A．Scientifically curious.	B．Cautiously optimistic.
C．Technologically skeptical.	D．Environmentally concerned.

5 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What are the highest temperatures in Northern India now?

A．About 35℃.

B．Almost 40℃.

C．Over 47℃.

2. How many Indian people died in 2016 due to heat-related illnesses?

A．About 200.

B．About 1,000.

C．About 2,000.

3. What will be done under extremely high temperatures?

A．Government projects will be done at night.

B．Bottles of water will be sold at low prices.

C．School days will be reduced.

4. What will the weather be like late this month in India?

A．Cooler.

B．All the same.

C．Hotter.

6 . Students who are found with pets, whether visiting or owned by the student, are _______ to an initial fine of $100 and a continuing fine of $50 a day per pet.

A．bound

B．subject

C．subsequent

D．committed

7 . Scientists have discovered a new structure that allows lunge feeding whales, also called rorqual whales (长须鲸), to take in massive amounts of water without choking.

To capture prey (猎物), rorqual whales use a method called lunge feeding. They speed up, and take in a volume of water large enough to fill their entire bodies.

Scientists didn’t know how these whales avoided choking on prey—filled water and flooding their respiratory tracts (呼吸道) during a lunge feeding event. Now Dr. Gil and his colleagues have discovered a large structure that they’ve termed the “oral plug” —a structure never before described in any other animal—that they think makes lunge feeding possible.

Dr. Gil and his colleagues analyzed dead fin whales. By physically dissecting (解剖) the mass of muscle and tissue that plug the back of the whale’s mouth, the researchers determined that when the animal is at rest, the plug blocks off the whale’s pharynx (咽道), a tube-shaped structure that leads to both the respiratory and digestive tracts. When a whale lunges, the “oral plug” protects both tracts from being flooded by the water and the living creatures that the animal has taken in.

When the animal is ready to swallow its latest meal, the oral plug shifts upward to protect the upper respiratory tract. At the same time, the larynx (喉) closes up and shifts downward, blocking the lower respiratory tract. In other words, during swallowing, the pharynx only leads to the digestive tract.

“This fills in a blank that we didn’t even know really existed,” said Dr. Gil of the team’s findings. Ari Friedlaender, who studies whale feeding behaviors at the University of California but was not involved in this research, sees great value in filling in these anatomical blanks about whales.

“The more we can understand how they develop these means for being able to eat so much, the more we understand about what their abilities are, and how they function as part of marine ecosystems,” Dr. Friedlaender said.

1. Which words can best describe the lunge feeding method of rorqual whales?
①speedy       ②massive       ③precise

A．②③

B．①②

C．①③

D．①②③

2. What function does the “oral plug” have?

A．It just blocks off the two airways when the whale rests.

B．It just protects the upper airway when the whale swallows.

C．It just blocks the lower airway when the whale lunges.

D．It ensures that the meals and water just go into the pharynx.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Dr. Friediaender shared his findings of whale feeding behavior with Dr. Gril.

B．Dr. Friedlaender praised the research for it further explains how marine ecosystems function.

C．Dr. Friedlaender will cooperate with Dr. Gil and his team for the future research.

D．Dr. Gil was probably surprised to find the existence of the “oral plug”.

4. What is Dr. Friedlaender’s attitude towards the new findings?

A．Negative.

B．Indifferent.

C．Cautious.

D．Positive.

5. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Why do whales lunge for food?	B．Why don’t whales choke?
C．Why do whales have respiratory tracts?	D．Why are whales unique?

8 . I was living in Cali, Colombia. One day my younger sister decided to visit me for a holiday and I was supposed to go to meet her at the airport. I somehow lost ________ of the time and realized that I was ________my home much later than I had wanted to. And to make matters _________, when I went outside, the rain was pouring from the sky and I couldn’t get a taxi to save my life. I ________ jumping on board a public bus to Palmira, where the airport was .

The driver said that I would be dropped ________ at a crossroads which was located six kilometers away from the airport. I had no ________ but to travel with the bus. The journey took ages, however. When the bus did eventually ________ the previously mentioned crossroads, the driver pointed in a given ________ and told me that the airport was down that way. By this time, I had descended into tears. My sister would be arriving in twelve minutes, and there was no way I was going to be able to make it ________. Beside myself (失去控制) with worry, I ________ the driver to drive the six kilometers down to the airport to drop me off. He stood up and took a vote from the other passengers. Fortunately, they all ________. Thanks to them, I arrived on time. This was my first encounter with Murphy’s Law (墨菲定律): Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. And the only way to beat this devil is to take ________for the outcome of all your actions. I should have made a Plan B by ________ the possibility that there would be no taxis available. Of course, some major victories were achieved by the very fact that they did not have a Plan B to ________.

However, most of the situations we encounter in our lives are much less dramatic and can often be ________ in more ways than one. It is ________to have a Plan B because you cannot always guarantee that your original plan is going to work out, and in some cases, your contingency (不测之事) plan might just be even ________ than your original one .

Now more than ever, in this rapidly changing world, ________ is often the key to success. If you are prepared to bounce back when everyone else ________, you will be the winner. Think of your contingency plan as a form of ________, one that, if nothing else, can give you the peace of mind you need.

1.

A．heart

B．sight

C．track

D．touch

2.

A．heading

B．leaving

C．driving

D．going

3.

A．better

B．easier

C．funnier

D．worse

4.

A．picked up

B．checked up

C．ended up

D．came up

5.

A．down

B．off

C．by

D．out

6.

A．choice

B．evidence

C．hope

D．reason

7.

A．arrive

B．pass

C．reach

D．return

8.

A．station

B．direction

C．location

D．position

9.

A．in time

B．on time

C．behind time

D．ahead of time

10.

A．allowed

B．reminded

C．forced

D．begged

11.

A．agreed

B．appeared

C．succeeded

D．signed

12.

A．advice

B．control

C．responsibility

D．risk

13.

A．coming into effect

B．getting into trouble

C．putting into practice

D．taking into account

14.

A．approves of

B．looks up

C．goes after

D．turn to

15.

A．accessed

B．altered

C．approached

D．avoided

16.

A．dangerous

B．essential

C．pointless

D．priceless

17.

A．extremer

B．faster

C．better

D．stranger

18.

A．capability

B．flexibility

C．reliability

D．stability

19.

A．breaks down

B．settles down

C．gets over

D．carries away

20.

A．assistance

B．endurance

C．guidance

D．insurance

9 . 阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

“I never lied to my father. When I was young, my father told me that if I tried to lie to him, he would always know. My body would tell him the truth because the body’s movement never lies.”, said Martha Graham, an influential American dancer and teacher, fascinated with the ideal that “movement never lies”. Martha realized that the body is its own storyteller. She just wanted to find ways to tell those stories through dance.

She began by studying ballet, but soon realized that it wasn’t right to her. From the very beginning of her dancing career, Martha saw dance differently. She was tiny, not tall like ballerinas (芭蕾舞女演员) at that time. But she had a strong, powerful body and dark, soulful (热情的) eyes. So she developed a style of movement different from traditional romantic ballet and called it modern dance. She brought modern dance to a new level of popularity in American culture.

Unlike ballet, which took place in a fairylike world, Martha’s modern dance expressed real emotions. Martha believed that it was important that the audience see themselves within her dances. She created and arranged many dances that showed emotions such as anger, jealousy, love or hate of common people.

Martha loved to wear long, dark, flowing robes when she performed. In the dances she used her robes in many different ways. Martha’s most important prop (支撑物) was the floor. She always danced in her bare feet, and her feet worked hard to tell their stories. The technique catching on, she founded the Dance Repertory Theater, and later, the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance.

Martha Graham died in 1991, just short of 100 years old. During her life she never stopped dancing. A part of Martha Graham lives on in modern dancers everywhere who continue to study the “Graham technique”. They strive for her honesty, always remembering that movement never lies.

1. Why did Martha Graham never lied to her father when she was young?(no more than 12words)
__________________________________________________________________
2. What does the underlined word“ideal”mean in paragraph 1?(no more than 2 words)
__________________________________________________________________
3. For what reason did Martha Graham develop modern dance?(no more than 15 words)
__________________________________________________________________
4. What is unique of her modern dance?(no more than 20 words)
__________________________________________________________________
5. What impresses you most of Graham’s story? And why?(no more than 20 words)
__________________________________________________________________

10 . On a cold morning in May, I received a fascinating email from a high school friend. inviting me to a 10-day all-female surfing adventure in Portugal. The offer was irresistible, and I instantly knew my answer was yes.

The trip seemed simple enough. Ten women, ranging from 30 to 45 years old, all strangers, will gather on the Portuguese coast to embrace the challenge of surfing the Atlantic waves.

As a travel enthusiast, I quickly sought permission from my boss for this once-in-a- lifetime journey.

Through my 33 years, I’ve observed a common adult tendency: we often limit ourselves to refining skills we already possess. There’s a certain pride in improving our expertise, becoming increasingly knowledgeable in our chosen fields, yet unintentionally, this focus often leaves other skills undeveloped and leads to neglecting other areas of potential growth.

Two days later, I arrived in Ericeira, a charming surf town, where I met my surfing group. Despite our different personalities and backgrounds, we were all united in a persistent desire to challenge ourselves, learn, tackle and grow.

The shores at Ericeira, where the beginners learn to surf, are shallow and covered with slippery rocks. They make for softer waves but are difficult to navigate (驾驭).

Guided by our amazing coaches, together, we faced the waves. Sometimes, it poured with rain, and the waves crashed around us, but we were still out there. And with every slip and fall, words of encouragement filled the air.

Honestly, I probably spent most of my days frozen to the bone, but that didn’t matter because a new level of genuine joy and personal achievement had been unlocked.

Learning a new skill taught me the humbleness that can come from doing badly at something new, and the pride that develops when you finally manage to grasp something you’ve been working on.

While surfing might not be my calling, trying it out inspired me to take more risks in life, to step outside of my comfort zone and to never stop believing in myself. You never know what you’re capable of if you don’t go out there and try.

1. What motivated the author to join the surf trip to Portugal?

A．The opportunity to improve existing skills.

B．The need to reconnect with a high school friend.

C．The chance to undertake work duties in Portugal.

D．The desire to embrace a challenge and learn a new skill.

2. What is the author’s view on adults focusing on mastering one field?

A．It narrows one’s abilities.	B．It is essential for career success.
C．It disrupts one’s work-life balance.	D．It develops creativity and exploration.

3. Which of the following words best describe the author’s surfing experience?

A．Tough but rewarding.	B．Boring and uneventful.
C．Difficult and frustrating.	D．Relaxing but unpredictable.

4. What can be inferred about the author?

A．She used to lack confidence in herself.

B．She became more willing to take risks.

C．She went on to become an expert surfer.

D．She discovered the surfing was her true calling.

5. What wisdom did the author gain from the experience with surfing?

A．The value of pushing your limits and trying new things.

B．The need to seek professional training in all new skills.

C．The benefit of traveling with unknown companions.

D．The importance of being an expert in one field.