1. Why did the speaker go on the tour?
| A．It was the prize of a competition. |
| B．John asked her to go with him. |
| C．It was her travel plan. |
| A．The drinks. | B．The food. | C．The waiters. |
| A．Disappointing. | B．Amazing. | C．Terrible. |
| A．She rode an elephant. |
| B．She went to the mountains. |
| C．She relaxed in the hotel. |
A Cheating Incident
Raj looked into the teacher’s stony face as she raised an eyebrow. With his forehead bathed in sweat, he attempted to hide the book beneath his desk, but in vain. The watchful teacher had already caught sight of his behavior. She swiftly snatched the book away and ordered him to stand till the time was up, a period that seemed to stretch endlessly.
To Raj’s regret and disappointment, he had forgotten to study for the important quiz. It was CAI, the crucial stage of his academic year, and Raj was having his Science paper. He closed his eyes as he tried to recall. Then, it dawned on him. A week earlier, his Science teacher had clearly informed the class, “Next week, we’ll be having a quiz focusing on Interactions and Matter. Make sure you study these topics thoroughly.” Raj blamed himself for letting such vital information slip his mind among the chaos of daily school life.
With the clock ticking, he was briefly glancing through the pages of his textbook, desperately trying to absorb any last-minute knowledge before the quiz began. However, just as he was doing so, the teacher severely instructed everyone to pack away everything except their pencil cases. Raj let out a low sigh, despair settling heavily in his chest.
As the teacher handed out the papers, he felt nervous and his hands grew icy and slick with sweat, showing his anxiety. Drops of sweat stood out on his forehead as he tried to focus. Thoughts of being a failure ran through his mind. He moved his body from side to side in his seat as he thought of the notes he had secretly hidden in his pencil case.
Finally, the teacher announced, “Class, the time is 10: 00 a. m. We will stop at 11: 00a. m. sharp. You may begin, now.” The noise of flurrying papers was heard as students attentively turned to the first page. Raj rapidly filled out the multiple-choice section without much consideration, his heart pounding faster with each tick of the clock.
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。
When he came to the open-ended questions, he sighed desperately from the bottom of his heart.
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Once the time was up, the teacher took him to the headmaster’s office.
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1. When was Rebecca offered the position as a local news reporter?
| A．In 2016. | B．In 2017. | C．In 2019. |
| A．She moved to another city. |
| B．She followed her husband's advice. |
| C．She wanted to take up a better position. |
| A．Impressive. | B．Enjoyable. | C．Promising. |
| A．Her educational background. |
| B．Her working experience. |
| C．Her professional skills. |
1. How many multiple-choices remain unfinished?
| A．3. | B．4. | C．7. |
| A．Fairly well. | B．Just so-so. | C．Quite badly. |
5 . More than one-third of the world’s food is wasted or thrown away, most of which ends up in landfills, producing very large amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Now, many studies show that it is becoming harder to grow enough food to feed an increasing population due to climate change and soil degradation.
But one of the most promising and simplest solutions lies in the problem itself: this wasted food — if composted (堆肥) — could slow climate change and improve soil quality. Higher-quality soil also continues to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere, helping to improve plants and contributing further to fighting climate change. Returning one ton of organic matter to each hectare of soil would increase the production of cereal crops each year in Africa, Asia and South America by millions of tons.
While it is true that people can compost in their yards, community gardens, or even on their kitchen counters, larger-scale efforts, including infrastructure (基础设施) and incentives (激励) for consumers, would take it to the next level. Imagine if consumers could just leave unwanted food in a roadside bin for pickup, or drop it off at a local store, earning a few cents a bucket, just like what has been offered for recycling bottles or newspapers.
Moreover, in the case of composting, the payment incentive system would be sustainable because the end-product of compost can be sold to farmers, making it an economically workable model, something that is often lacking in recycling, especially for certain materials, like many types of plastics.
Eventually, more widespread composting of food would pave the way for solutions to additional waste challenges, such as the disposal of packaging and clothing. This will have other positive effects as well; if more consumers compost, companies will be more inspired to make and use compostable packaging, clothing, and other products. While more compostable items are starting to emerge today, additional composting will further drive demand and innovation, and offer a game-changing solution for the planet.
1. What is paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The uneven distribution of food around the world. |
| B．The burden of population growth on the planet. |
| C．The urgency of properly dealing with wasted food. |
| D．The great impact of climate change on food. |
| A．A good system is needed to carry out it effectively. |
| B．It would take a long term to have an effect. |
| C．It is only workable on a small scale. |
| D．It may raise people’s awareness of reducing food waste. |
| A．It is highly profitable. |
| B．It is easy to carry out. |
| C．It is a sustainable economic cycle pattern. |
| D．It is more effective than other recycling systems. |
| A．How Wasted Food Could Be Reduced |
| B．How Wasted Food Could Save the Planet |
| C．How Wasted Food Could Impact Humans |
| D．How Wasted Food Could Become a Business |
When I was a young father, every weekend and festival, my wife and I would take our kids to her family gathering. It always took place at a picnic area on the side of a mountain. On the top of the mountain was her family’s house. The road to the top of it wasn’t quite smooth. Even when the weather was fine, it was a difficult ride with a dirt road full of potholes, sharp turns, and sticking rocks that could break the bottom of your car if you hit them wrong.
If it had recently rained, you had to go quick, or you ran the risk of getting your car stuck in the mud. Cars would roar up the road fast, and then look for parking spots along the side of the hill in the grassy areas. You always had to keep your eyes on the road even when you were stepping out of your car.
On one of these gatherings, I remember seeing a small tortoise (乌龟) enjoying sunlight on the top of a rock near the end of the road near a small wood, which belonged to my wife’s family. I watched as one car sped by and almost hit him on the right. Then another car ran past even faster and nearly knocked him off the stone on the left.
The small tortoise pulled his head into his shell (壳) both times, thinking that would protect him, but I knew if one car ran over the little tortoise, he would be dead. I quickly walked over and picked him up before the next car came speeding up the hill. Then I walked him deep into the nearby woods. Finally, I found another stone where he might enjoy the sun in safety and left him there in peace.
Unfortunately, on this road, I often found dead or injured small animals.
注意：1．续写词数应为150个左右;2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Once I found an injured little rabbit lying on the roadside.
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I decided to take measures to protect the small animals in the wood.
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| judge from, turn out , be responsible for, remind… of …, make every effort to |
1. The woman in the park
2.
3. It is reported that smoking
4. The government
5. This photo
Preparing for the upcoming Christmas season was truly annoying. Schedules to meet and deadlines to attend were pounding at the doorstep. The stores were jam-packed with people. The freeways, highways, main roads, and back roads seemed to fill as quickly as the opening of Disneyland’s theme park.
This was supposedly the season of giving and loving. Something needed to change — but what?
Suddenly, a request from the local radio station playing in the background caught my attention. “This year, they’re forecasting a record for cold temperatures. The local homeless shelter is in desperate need of clothing — hats, scarves, and gloves especially. A three-day window has been set up to receive donations into the late hours of the night. ”
Something pulled at my heartstrings that very moment — a tinge of a feeling almost forgotten. This is the answer! I immediately thought. Then, as if flying on wings, I packed up my three-year-old son and headed out to the local discount store.
The crowds in the store didn’t change my determination. Four sets of hats, gloves, and scarves were found within a matter of minutes and purchased.
Back in the car, the same radio station was playing holiday music, but this time it seemed to capture my senses. My attention was again brought to the present as my patient three-year-old son finally asked where we were going. I explained that certain people needed warm gloves, hats, and scarves. They didn’t live in a house of their own and needed us to help. His face held a look of puzzlement. How does one explain such a thing to a three-year-old?
My son carefully took his very first dollar bill from his pocket. It had been given to him a few days earlier — a possession so precious that if anyone even looked at it, he immediately retreated out of sight with the dollar in hand. It had become his priceless treasure.
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。
An hour later, we reached the entrance to the drop-off center.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With a wish of “Merry Christmas,” I turned to go back to the car.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. When does the conversation probably take place?
| A．At the end of a term. |
| B．In the middle of a term. |
| C．At the beginning of a term. |
| A．Inviting a famous actor to the party. |
| B．Playing some good music at the party. |
| C．Asking everyone to dress up at the party. |
| A．What clothes to wear. |
| B．What games to organize. |
| C．What competitions to have. |
| A．Pizza. | B．Bread. | C．Fried chicken. |
10 . High in the Swiss Alps and the Arctic, scientists have discovered microbes (微生物) that can digest plastics — importantly, without the need to apply extra heat. Their findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, could one day improve plastic recycling.
It’s no secret that plastic pollution is still a big, global issue. Since its production exploded during and after World War II, humans have created more than 9.1 billion tons of plastic — and researchers estimate that less than one tenth of the resulting waste has been recycled. To make matters worse, the most common recycling option — when plastic is washed, processed and turned into new products — doesn’t actually reduce waste: The recycled materials are often of lower quality and might later end up in a landfill all the same.
So, researchers are looking for solutions to the plastics problem that go beyond conventional recycling — and one process they’ve experimented with is breaking down plastics using microbes. But the known plastic-digesting microbes can only do so at warm temperatures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit. When done at an industrial scale, the amount of energy needed to generate that much heat makes the process give off more carbon —and cost more money.
But the microbes found in the Arctic and Swiss Alps can function at cooler temperatures: They were able to break down biodegradable (可生物降解的) plastics at 59 degrees Fahrenheit. In the new study, co-author Joel Rüthi and his colleagues discovered that of the total 34 types of microbes examined,19 were successfully able to break down a form of plastic called polyester-polyurethane, and 17 could break down two types of biodegradable plastic mixtures.
Unfortunately, the plastics that the microbes partially degraded represent a “really small amount of plastics in circulation,” said Gavin Lear, an environmental microbiologist, who was not involved in the study. Lear acknowledged that using natural microbes can provide a head start when it comes to designing a strategy for bio-recycling. If we move away from the conventional non-biodegradable materials, “and we start to use more of these biodegradable plastics, then it’s good that we know how to degrade them more quickly so they’re less of an environmental problem,” he concluded.
1. What do we know about the conventional recycling?| A．It does not live up to expectations. | B．It contributes to more waste. |
| C．It is not as popular as before. | D．It ensures new product quality. |
| A．Impractical. | B．Pioneering | C．Reliable. | D．Invaluable. |
| A．To prove the microbes have an obvious taste preference. |
| B．To show the finding opens doors to a more efficient system. |
| C．To clarify how the process of breaking down plastics works. |
| D．To explain why bio-recycling is better than conventional recycling. |
| A．Reward. | B．Criterion. | C．Protection. | D．Advantage. |
