It all began when my younger brother, Chris, and I went over to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Howard’s for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle live on a farm at the opposite end of town, and Chris and I love going there. The farm is situated in a valley surrounded by rolling hills. The fields are lush and green, with crops growing as far as the eye could see. The sound of chickens clucking and cows mooing fills the air. For my brother and me, it is a wonderland where we have a lot of fun.
We got up early and did the morning chores before we left. As kids, we talked happily about the feast along the way. Roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato, and cranberries were awaiting us. We were curious to know how a turkey could grow so big. When we finally got to my aunt and uncle’s, Chris and I went outside to see if Uncle Howard needed help with anything. He and Dad had decided to clean out the turkey coop (笼子) before dinner. Since Chris was only nine, he got the easier job of scrubbing out the watering cans. I was twelve, old enough to help load the wheelbarrow (手推车). Work was tough, but we still found time to ask Uncle Howard a lot of questions about turkeys. He must have been impressed, because when we were finished, he winked at my dad and handed me a turkey egg. “You kids put it under a setting hen,” he said, “and in twenty-five days, you’ll have a fine turkey!” Chris was so excited that he nearly dropped his egg on the way to the house. We both stuffed ourselves at dinner and then couldn’t wait for the grownups to finish talking so we could go home and tend to our egg.
Dad put the egg under an old hen, and every day Chris and I would check to see if it’d hatched yet. Twenty-five days seemed like forever.
Para. 1. Finally, on the twenty-sixth day, Chris and I walked into the coop after school.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Para. 2. We waited nervously for the coming of the next Thanksgiving Day.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As senior high students, we are on busy schedule every day,
In 2019, Veronica, a park owner, planned to set free a bear named Archie into the wild, but Veronica worried about his well-being. So she came up with a brilliant plan. If she could prove that Archie was her pet, she could legally adopt him. To do that, she would need to prove beyond every doubt that she was in complete control of the animal.
So Veronica and Archie would go fishing to show the two of them having fun together. Seeing that the bear seemed happy and had a good life with her, the authorities had no choice but to declare that Archie was a pet. This made them very happy and they went fishing every week until something very strange happened one day.
Veronica noticed Archie suddenly started acting strangely. He started rocking the boat back and forth. Veronica looked at him, trying to understand what was happening. She saw in his look something she had never seen before. The bear was amazed at something. But what was it? Veronica put down her fishing rod(钓鱼竿) and gave Archie a hug. “What’s the matter, buddy ?” Then Archie did something she couldn’t have expected. He began to roar (吼叫) , and it got louder and louder. Then Veronica understood that he was calling her attention to see something. What’s he trying to tell me?” thought the confused woman.
Suddenly, Archie lifted his paw and pointed toward the bank. When Veronica looked carefully that way, she found something very surprising. On the shore of the lake was another bear! The animal appeared to be communicating with Archie. She felt there was no negative tension between them. Archie was looking at the other bear with a very warm and tender look.
Veronica then began to row the boat towards the shore. As they approached, Archie jumped out of the boat at high speed and ran toward the animal.
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。
To her surprise, the two animals started hugging each other tightly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Saying goodbye to her great companion was one of the hardest things Veronica had ever done in her life.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . When continent splits occur, they usually leave traces in ancient rocks, fossils, and mountain ranges. However, around 155 million years ago, when a 5,000-kilometer land broke away from Western Australia and began its drift, it only left behind a basin deep below the ocean known as the Argo Abyssal Plain and scientists have been unable to find where this lost continent, Argoland, disappeared to until now.
The seabed structure suggests that the continent drifted northwestward, potentially towards present-day Southeast Asia. But surprisingly, there is no large continent hidden beneath those islands, only small continental fragments. Using this theory, geologists discovered that Argoland hadn’t really disappeared but survived as a “very extended and fragmented collection” under the islands to the east of Indonesia. Unlike other continents like Africa and South America, which broke neatly into two pieces, Argoland split into many smaller fragments that were dispersed (分散的). With advanced technology and the discovery, scientists can now piece them together.
Tracing the continents is vital for understanding processes like the evolution of biodiversity. It could help explain something known as the mysterious Wallace Line, which is an imaginary boundary that separates mammals, birds, and even early human species in Southeast Asian islands. The boundary has puzzled scientists for long because it clearly separates the island’s wildlife. To the west of the line are mammals like apes and elephants. But these are almost completely absent to the east, where you can find marsupials and cockatoos — animals typically associated with Australia. Researchers have theorized that this may be because Argoland carried its own wildlife away from Australia before it crashed into Southeast Asia, which helps explain why different species are found on one land.
The story of Argoland is not one of complete disappearance but of transformation. As the world continues to evolve, this lost continent serves as a powerful symbol of the fragility (脆弱性) of life on this planet, and a reminder of the importance of respecting and protecting the world that we live in.
1. What is Argoland?| A．It is a basin deep below the ocean in Western Australia. |
| B．It is a large continent hidden beneath the islands of Southeast Asia. |
| C．It is a new land emerging from under the islands to the east of Indonesia. |
| D．It is a fragmented continent drifting from Western Australia to Southeast Asia. |
| A．To introduce an imaginary boundary. |
| B．To support the assumed theory of the lost continent. |
| C．To show different species in Southeast Asian islands. |
| D．To explain the reason why scientists are puzzled about the boundary. |
| A．it warns us to protect our planet. |
| B．it shows the creatures on earth are fragile. |
| C．it reminds us of the power of human activities. |
| D．it explains the biodiversity in Southeast Asian islands. |
| A．The mystery of a lost continent has been unfolded. |
| B．The fragments of Indonesia have been pieced together. |
| C．The formation of the Argo Abyssal Plain has been discovered. |
| D．The evolution of species in Southeast Asian islands has been traced. |
| A．He is tall. | B．He is kind. | C．He is childlike. |
6 . For more than 60 years bringing the cost of food down had been one of the greatest challenge of the 21 century. That cost, however, is not in immediate cash, for most food is now far cheaper in relative terms than in 1960.
The cost is in the unintended damage of the very methods of food production that have made the food cheaper: in the pollution of water, the weakness of soil, the destruction of wildlife, the harm to animal welfare and the threat to human health caused by modern industrial agriculture.
First mechanisation, then mass use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and now genetic engineering — modern industrial farming has seemed unstoppable, as the yields of produce have soared. But it comes with extensive loss of wildlife and habitat, soil degradation and fertilizer run-off.
Put it together and it’s like a battleground, but consumers rarely make the connection at the dinner table. The problems are called “externalities” by economists because they’re not part of the main transaction, like growing and selling wheat. These costs aren’t directly paid by the producers or consumers.
But the costs to society can amount to shocking sums. According to a research by Professor Jules Pretty at the University of Essex, repairing the damage caused by intensive farming in one particular year costs £2, 343m in the UK alone, almost as much as the total UK and EU spend on British farming in that year.
Can the true cost of food be brought down? In some countries, moving away from industrial agriculture to address hunger is difficult. However, in developed countries, it’s more possible. Governments should support sustainable farming that benefits the environment, economy, health, and animal welfare. Instead of immediately switching to organic farming, Professor Pretty suggests adopting a “Greener Food Standard” which would push the market towards more sustainable environmental practices than the current norm, while not requiring the full commitment to organic production. This standard would guide farmers on better practices in farming, promoting a shift towards a more sustainable agricultural system for both producers and consumers.
1. What is the cost associated with food production?| A．Immediate cash loss. | B．Increased agriculture yields. |
| C．Promotion of organic farming. | D．Impairment to human welfare. |
| A．The costs are included in the price. | B．The costs lie in food growing and selling. |
| C．The costs aren’t directly visible to people. | D．People aren’t affected by modern farming. |
| A．Giving up clean-up efforts. | B．Overlooking global hunger. |
| C．Making flexible farming policies. | D．Adopting full organic approaches. |
| A．Critical. | B．Supportive. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Mindless. |
1. What was thought to be harmful to people’s health?
| A．Salty food. | B．Sugary food. | C．Fatty food. |
| A．Limit carbs (碳水化合物). | B．Avoid meat. | C．Control food intake. |
| A．Overweight teenagers. | B．Sick people. | C．People with poor appetite. |
1. What do we know about Beowulf?
| A．Its writer is unknown. | B．It is a famous novel. | C．It is easy to understand. |
| A．Between about AD 800 and AD 1066. |
| B．Between about AD 1066 and AD 1150. |
| C．Between about AD 1150 and AD 1500.. |
| A．An English historian. | B．A Middle English poet | C．A modern English writer. |
| A．Modern English. | B．Middle English. | C．Old English. |
9 . The human voice is a delicate thing. Each person’s distinctive voice is produced when air from the lungs causes the vocal cords (声带) to vibrate (震颤). These vocal cords can easily get damaged. According to a 2005 study, 30% of the population will experience a voice disorder at some point in their life.
In a study published in the journal Nature Communications this week, a group of bioengineering researchers from the University of California have put forward an attractive solution. They have designed and tested a soft patch (小片) that can be stuck onto a person’s neck, where it will pick up muscle movements and, with the help of machine-learning algorithms (算法) that process the signals, translate them into speech.
When a person loses their voice today, the easiest fix is to turn to typing, texting, or writing notes to communicate. Typing can be slow and convenient, says Jun Chen, the paper’s lead author, and writing notes is only possible in good lighting. The new solution would therefore be able to clear all these hurdles.
Dr. Chen’s device works based on something called the magnetoelastic effect. Essentially, when tiny magnetic (磁性的) bits are placed into soft materials, their magnetic properties can change as the material is stretched.
When the throat muscles move under the soft patch, the resulting magnetoelastic effects can be changed into electrical signals. In a test with eight participants, the variations can be changed by electrical signals.
Researchers recorded the signals as the subjects spoke and mouthed five different sentences. They then trained a machine-learning model which was then able to predict which of the five sentences the participants spoke-whether aloud or in silence-with more than 90%accuracy.
There is a way to go yet, for now the device can only recognize the five phrases it was trained on. Plus, to make it practical at scale, the researchers will need to collect a lot more data.
1. In paragraph 1,the author mainly wants to tell us that____.| A．lungs are easily damaged |
| B．the human voice is unique |
| C．vocal cords vibrate to produce sound |
| D．voice disorders are a problem worthy of attention |
| A．To explain the working principle. | B．To present a solution. |
| C．To introduce the challenge. | D．To make a comparison. |
| A．Predicting five different sentences. |
| B．destroying the background magnetic field. |
| C．Slowing the movements of throat muscles. |
| D．Helping turn muscle movements into electrical signals. |
| A．Predicting the Importance of Voice Restoration |
| B．Using Algorithms in Bioengineering Research |
| C．Overcoming Voice Loss with an innovative Patch |
| D．Finding the Principle of Communication Devices |
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。
She was the prettiest puppy we had ever seen, and the whole family immediately fell in love with her. We named her Onyx because of her black, shiny black coat. She spent her first vacation with us when she was only ten weeks old and had her first bath and swim in the St. Lawrence River. We had no clue that this amazing little ball of fur would end up being our hero.
As she grew older, Onyx became more and more involved in our family activities. On hot summer days, Onyx enjoyed floating on the river with us in her own rubber tube (橡皮圈). Amazingly standing on the top of the tube, she smiled while showing off her perfect balance. Resting her front legs and paws over the edge of the rubber tube, she kept her eyes shut as she floated until she’d had enough of the warm sun on her black coat.
One day, our eighteen-year-old daughter, Margie, announced she was going to swim across the bay. No one in the family was free to go swimming with her. The unwritten rules, regardless of swimming ability, was to have a companion in the water with you, especially when swimming the width of the bay. I was not a good swimmer, so I said to Margie, “Take Onyx with you.” Having heard her name, Onyx woke up from a nap and was ready for action. Margie signed the dog to follow her. Onyx ran to the water next to her. They entered the freezing river together and swam side by side across the bay.
I watched from the bank as they reached the sandbar (沙洲) on the far shore. They rested a few minutes before diving into the water for the return trip. I felt uneasy for some reason and continued to watch the pair swim side by side.
Suddenly I heard Margie calling out, “I have a cram (痉挛) in the leg! ”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing the pair approaching the riverbank, I breathed a sigh of relief.
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