1 . As cities balloon with growth, access to nature for people living in urban areas is becoming harder to find. If you’re lucky, there might be a pocket park near where you live, but it’s unusual to find places in a city that are relatively wild.

Past research has found health and wellness benefits of nature for humans, but a new study shows that wildness in urban areas is extremely important for human well-being.

The research team focused on a large urban park. They surveyed several hundred park-goers, asking them to submit a written summary online of a meaningful interaction they had with nature in the park. The researchers then examined these submissions, coding (编码) experiences into different categories. For example, one participant’s experience of “We sat and listened to the waves at the beach for a while” was assigned the categories “sitting at beach” and “listening to waves.”

Across the 320 submissions, a pattern of categories the researchers call a “nature language” began to emerge. After the coding of all submissions, half a dozen categories were noted most often as important to visitors. These include encountering wildlife, walking along the edge of water, and following an established trail.

Naming each nature experience creates a usable language, which helps people recognize and take part in the activities that are most satisfying and meaningful to them. For example, the experience of walking along the edge of water might be satisfying for a young professional on a weekend hike in the park. Back downtown during a workday, they can enjoy a more domestic form of this interaction by walking along a fountain on their lunch break.

“We’re trying to generate a language that helps bring the human-nature interactions back into our daily lives. And for that to happen, we also need to protect nature so that we can interact with it,” said Peter Kahn, a senior author of the study.

1. What phenomenon does the author describe at the beginning of the text?

A．Pocket parks are now popular.	B．Wild nature is hard to find in cities.
C．Many cities are overpopulated.	D．People enjoy living close to nature.

2. Why did the researchers code participant submissions into categories?

A．To compare different types of park-goers.	B．To explain why the park attracts tourists.
C．To analyze the main features of the park.	D．To find patterns in the visitors’ summaries.

3. What can we learn from the example given in paragraph 5?

A．Walking is the best way to gain access to nature.

B．Young people are too busy to interact with nature.

C．The same nature experience takes different forms.

D．The nature language enhances work performance.

4. What should be done before we can interact with nature according to Kahn?

A．Language study.	B．Environmental conservation.
C．Public education.	D．Intercultural communication.

2 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.

At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.

In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.

Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.

1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?

A．Beautifying the city he lives in.	B．Introducing eco-friendly products.
C．Drawing public attention to plastic waste.	D．Reducing garbage on the beach.

2. Why does the author discuss plastic straws in paragraph 3?

A．To show the difficulty of their recycling.

B．To explain why they are useful.

C．To voice his views on modern art.

D．To find a substitute for them.

3. What effect would “Truckload of Plastic” have on viewers?

A．Calming.	B．Disturbing.
C．Refreshing.	D．Challenging.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety

B．Media Interest in Contemporary Art

C．Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies

D．Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures

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。

Doctors in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have followed the meal-time habits of more than 500 people for six years,     1    (find) weight change is most affected by the size and     2    (frequent) of meals rather than the interval (间隔) from first to last meal. It challenges the popular trend of intermittent fasting (禁食疗方)     3     a useful weight loss strategy.

Intermittent fasting, also referred to as time-restricted feeding, is a dietary strategy where all meals     4    (consume) during a short window of time each day. These windows can extend from 6 to 10 hours, resulting in a person essentially fasting for up to 18 hours each day.

The idea reveals     5     is no link between the lime of a person’s eating window each day and weight changes. “Based on other studies that have come out, including     6    (we), we are starting to think timing of meals most likely doesn’t produce     7     instant impact on weight loss,” said doctor Bennett. “What does matter, however, is the total number of medium and large meals a person eats over the day.” It suggests simply eating smaller meals, less frequently, is     8     ultimately leads to weight loss.

All of this doesn’t mean intermittent fasting strategies won’t help. But what does seem increasingly clear is that the weight loss benefits occasionally     9    (see) with these eating strategies may be primarily driven by a reduced caloric intake. It doesn’t mean you can simply eat all you want in a short window each day and still expect     10    (lose) weight.

4 . The brown paper bag hit the ground. A Michelin engineer picked it up and opened it, revealing a cracked, leaking egg. The third graders at A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School were disappointed when they saw the runny mess.

It was engineering week at A.J. Whittenberg, a public primary school in Greenville, South Carolina. One week per month, engineers from local industries visit the classrooms and talk to students about their careers.

Greenville is now introducing the idea of a career path to students in primary school and giving students the option to follow those programs to middle and high schools. Each primary school focuses on a specific technical skill. The district allows students to attend schools outside of their attendance boundaries as long as space is available, which means students can choose to continue to follow their chosen career pathway at a middle school with corresponding programs.

The effort in Greenville is part of a growing national trend in which school districts partner with local industries to develop curriculum (课程) and expose students to specialized careers at a young age.

Some education experts worry the focus on industry qualifications has resulted in schools taking on responsibilities that should fall to businesses, like training workers for specific job duties, damaging a more comprehensive education in schools. “Schools are to not just prepare people for work and strengthen the economy, but also a place where students should experience art, music and think creatively,” said Jack Schneider, a professor of education at the University of Massachusetts.

A teacher from Greenville, however, said, “Career exposure has a big impact on kids. We’re not really wanting them to make a decision—‘I’m in the second grade and now I’m locked in to being whatever when I graduate from high school in 10 years.’ We just hope students walk across the graduation stage with plans for a career in mind.”

Modern times need modern solutions. When students leave school, they need to be already down their road to college, if that’s what they’re going to do, or schools need to give them something that allows them to get to work and earn a living. Just getting out with a high school degree doesn’t do that.

1. Why were the third graders disappointed?

A．Their test failed.	B．The bag missed the target.
C．Engineers disturbed them.	D．They had to clean the ground.

2. What does Greenville do to help students follow their chosen path?

A．Design more career paths.	B．Invite engineers to their schools.
C．Adopt the open enrollment policy.	D．Offer more courses for them to choose.

3. What is Jack Schneider concerned about?

A．People’s employment.	B．Students’ overall development.
C．The nation’s economy.	D．The school’s innovative education.

4. Which statement would the author most likely agree with?

A．Modern solutions are hard to find.

B．More students need college education.

C．Greenville’s practice is not acceptable.

D．A high school degree is not enough for jobs.

5 . 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。

Joyce is in the fourth grade and he joined the noisy children of his class as usual. “Children! Silence!” Mangat Madam suddenly entered the class. She announced next week would be math week. “I’d like each of you to work on a project. You could do it individually or in a group.” she instructed. “The topic for the project needs approving tomorrow and it has to be displayed at the math week exhibition. The best project will be awarded and there is also a surprise gift from my side,” she added.

Joyce, who is extremely good at math, sat in the corner seat of the first bench with Karan, an average. Karan asked Joyce if they could work on the math project together. Joyce replied in a prideful tone, “Ha-ha you want to join me. I think I will do the project on my own.” Joyce wanted to get awarded and the surprise gift all for himself from Mangat Madam.

After deep consideration, Joyce decided to work on a math magic quiz on the circuit board. The next day in school, Mangat Madam arrived in the classroom and all the children submitted their topics for math exhibition. They all chose to work in a group except Joyce. In the following days, Joyce gathered all the materials for the project such as wires, bulbs (灯泡), a switch and a thin plywood board (胶合板). He worked out a few mathematical basic operations to be fixed on the board so that when the wire of the circuit touched the right answer, the bulb glowed. Joyce completed the project and was happy with the result.

The evening before the exhibition, while packing his school bags, Joyce again checked the project to see if it was working fine. Alas! All the lights that were to glow did not seem to light at all. Without finding the reason, Joyce was tensed. However, he decided to take the same project to the school as he couldn’t change the topic at the last minute. Then came the next day, and everybody was fascinated in the exhibition.

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。

It was Joyce’s turn to display his project.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, the teacher announced Karan’s team was the winner.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . The Language of Flowers

Ding dong! I looked up from the couch. Who in the world could that be? My body was troubled with illness, so I’d ________myself away. Friends telephoned, texted, emailed and sent cards. I didn’t ________, thinking that I had nothing to offer anyone in the miserable condition I was in.

I ________got up and opened the door to a flower delivery. As I put the flowers on my dining table, I was struck by its ________. It was comprised of solitary blossoms of many varieties that shouldn’t really ________yet somehow did. The mystery flowers had come in a blue jar, without a card.

Instead of returning to the couch, I ________ the florist. He told me some of my friends were behind the ________, secretly. “They wanted to get a ________to you, ” he said, “through the language of flowers.”

The group had followed him and picked very ________stems after consulting an old book. “I learned some things,” the florist said, then ________: “The red carnation (康乃馨) meant ‘Our hearts ache for you’. The yellow tulip (郁金香) wanted to see ________in my smile again. The pink carnation had a few ________words to say about never forgetting me.”

The more I understood what the flowers were ________, the more I started to remember the woman who might have ________them before I separated myself from everyone and everything. My friends knew I was still that woman, with ________beyond my health.

1.

A．hidden

B．given

C．driven

D．broken

2.

A．forbid

B．accept

C．act

D．respond

3.

A．cautiously

B．reluctantly

C．instantly

D．cheerfully

4.

A．size

B．style

C．uniqueness

D．shape

5.

A．go together

B．stand out

C．mix up

D．fade away

6.

A．informed

B．thanked

C．rewarded

D．telephoned

7.

A．delivery

B．program

C．mystery

D．scene

8.

A．companion

B．message

C．commitment

D．gift

9.

A．expensive

B．rare

C．specific

D．fresh

10.

A．explained

B．clarified

C．defined

D．analyzed

11.

A．pain

B．fortune

C．sympathy

D．sunshine

12.

A．modest

B．tolerant

C．formal

D．meaningful

13.

A．involving

B．saying

C．smelling

D．signing

14.

A．advocated

B．confirmed

C．required

D．earned

15.

A．ambition

B．value

C．curiosity

D．fantasy

7 . Curiosity is rooted in our DNA. We are fascinated by the future; we are impressed with the unknown that surrounds us; we are amazed at all that we have to explore. The mysteries of the world have always been a push for us to watch.     1    .

Children are known for sticking their fingers in places where young fingers should never be. They are famous for putting all kinds of objects and substances in their mouths, everything from plastic blocks to any object in the room.

    2     It holds our hand as we move into old age and the unknown of the future. By and large, we are determined question-askers. We want to know more than we know; we want to expand our horizons, try out the new and undiscovered, and pursue experiences that deepen our comprehension of the world we live in.

    3     It is also the generation of possibilities. When we look at the world from multiple perspectives, we give ourselves permission to examine a wider range of resolutions. We open up our minds to explore the unexamined and unknown.     4     Ian Leslie explains it this way, “Curiosity is essential to an exploring mind; it opens our eyes to the new and undiscovered, encouraging us to seek out new experiences and meet new people.”

Curiosity is the catalyst(催化剂) for questioning, and questioning is what urges us to seek out the unfamiliar and the unknown.     5     It does not move forward, nor does it have sufficient power to dig what may lie just below the surface or just slightly out of reach. Curiosity is the fuel necessary for creativity to prosper and succeed.

A．Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

B．Without questioning, knowledge becomes inactive.

C．Nowhere is this truer than when we watch our children.

D．But curiosity is much more than a simple search for answers.

E．Curiosity becomes a boost for new opportunities and new options.

F．So ask questions to which there may be a wide variety of responses.

G．In adults, curiosity guides us toward a lifetime occupation and to new destinations.

8 . If you visited a big aquarium such as SeaWorld or the Miami Seaquarium a decade ago, performances by tiger whales were probably a centerpiece of the visiting experience. However, animal advocates have pushed to end the harmful practice of keeping these enormous whales locked up in small pools and forcing them to perform for audiences. Now the good news is emerging from this continuing movement Lolita, one tiger whale living in the Miami Seaquarium, may soon be released to the Salish Sea where her mother lives.

Lolita’s possible homecoming is a longtime coming. The enormous animal was caught in 1970 in the Salish Sea, a body of water off the coast of Washington, which is home to tiger whales. Until now she has spent the past 52 years in captivity in Miami. Her tank is considered the smallest among those of captive whales in America. She has been forced to perform for crowds for decades. This has resulted in injuries. She has hit her head while performing “fast swims”, and her blood work has been abnormal.

Whales in captivity can suffer severe health issues. Lolita outlived her tank-mate Hugo, who died of aneurism (动脉瘤) caused by hitting his head on the aquarium walls. “Lolita’s lucky,” said Howard Garrett, a whale researcher and activist. “It’s against all odds that she is still alive. I think is her mental health that keeps her physical health in good shape. She is a complete miracle in her ability to stay healthy.”

According to the United States, Department of Agriculture, Lolita may not be getting enough food and water. This only adds to the list of health concerns which can appear in captivity. Activists who have been pushing for decades may at last see Lolita return to the Salish Sea, where her mother, a 93-year old tiger whale known as “Ocean Sun”, leads a pod. Returning these magnificent creatures to their natural habitat is a humane solution advocated for by the likes of the International Marine Mammal Project.

1. Which of the following best describes Lolita?

A．She got many injuries while performing for audiences over 50 years.

B．Her blood works well though she suffers severe health problems.

C．She was caught on the beach in Miami as a result of her injuries.

D．She was switched to a bigger tank because of her mate’s attack.

2. Why is Lolita in good physical health according to Howard Garrett?

A．Her mental state is sound.

B．Hugo influenced her positively.

C．She gets timely medical treatment.

D．Whale researchers offer necessary aids.

3. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A．Activists have succeeded in accomplishing the project.

B．Lolita will definitely fit in with the pod led by her mother.

C．Joint efforts are being made to release creatures like Lolita.

D．There’s little hope for Lolita to return to her natural habitat.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Lolita, the Last Tiger Whale in the World

B．Lolita, Released to the Salish Sea

C．Animals in Capacity Are Suffering a Lot

D．Lolita May Soon Go Free from Captivity

9 . Though researchers have long known that adults build unconscious (无意识的) preferences over a lifetime of making choices between things that are essentially the same, the new finding that even babies engage in this phenomenon demonstrates that this way of justifying choice is intuitive (凭直觉的) and somehow fundamental to the human experience.

“The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options,” said Alex Silver, a Johns Hopkins researcher. “Even infants who are really just at the start of making choices for themselves have this preference.”

The findings are published today in the journal Psychological Science. People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that’s sometimes backwards: we like things because we choose them. And, we dislike things that we don’t choose. “Adults make these inferences unconsciously,” said co-author Lisa Feigenson, a Johns Hopkins scientist in child development. “We justify our choice after the fact.”

This makes sense for adults in a consumer culture who must make random choices every day, between everything from toothpaste brands to styles of jeans. The question was when exactly people start doing this. So they turned to babies, who don’t get many choices so, as Feigenson puts it, are “a perfect window into the origin of this tendency.”

The team brought 10-to 20-month-old babies into the lab and gave them a choice of objects to play with; two equally bright and colorful soft blocks. They set them far apart, so the babies had to crawl to one or the other — a random choice. After the baby chose one of the toys, the researchers took it away and came back with a new option. The babies could then pick from the toy they didn’t play with the first time, or a brand new toy. Their choices showed they “dis-prefer the unchosen object.”

To continue studying the evolution of choice in babies, the lab will next look at the idea of “choice overload.” For adults, choice is good, but too many choices can be a problem, so the lab will try to determine if that is also true for babies.

1. What is people’s assumption about the act of making choices?

A．They like what they choose.

B．They choose what they like.

C．They base choices on the fact.

D．They make choices thoughtfully.

2. Why were babies selected as subjects for the study?

A．To help them make better choices.

B．To guide them to perceive the world.

C．To track the root of making random choices.

D．To deepen the understanding of a consumer culture.

3. What does the study on the babies show?

A．They like novel objects.

B．Their choices are mostly based on colors.

C．Their random choices become preferences.

D．They are unable to make choices for themselves.

4. What will the following study focus on?

A．The law of “choice overload”.

B．The problem of adults’ many choices.

C．Why too many choices can influence adults.

D．Whether babies are troubled with many choices.

10 . Natural silence — the kind when you hear nothing but the sound of nature around you — is becoming increasingly scarce. The noise of man-made can be heard even in the remote corners of national parks and deep in the Arctic Ocean.

This is having some troubling effects. In humans, noise pollution has been linked to physical, mental health problems and cognitive impairment (认知功能障碍) in children. In wildlife,it’s disturbing navigation, pairing, communication and can cause hearing loss. “We’re losing the ability to listen to nature without noise pollution,” says sound recordist Matt Mikkelsen. He’s part of the non-profit organization Quiet Parks International, which aims to identify and preserve the planet’s last quiet places.

Recently, this took him to Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. No cars, motor boats, electricity or telephone lines are allowed in the one-million-acre area,making it a strong candidate for Quiet Park status. But listening back to the recording, Mikkelsen can hear the low hum (嗡鸣声) of a commercial plane flying far away.

Quiet Parks hasn’t yet decided if Boundary Waters meets its criteria — it’s one of 260 potential sites around the world that the organization is currently exploring. The team will analyze the sound recordings from each location and consider them alongside other data.

In recent years, the world has been getting louder, with cities and towns expanding and an increasing number of noises from cars, airplanes or ships. But during the COVID-19 pandemic (流行病), there has been momentary delay.In2020,global air travel was down by 60% and road transport decreased by almost half. Scientists in Europe found that noise caused by humans fell by up to 50% after lock downs were carried out.

“People enjoyed the silence,” says Mikkelsen. “There were no airplanes in the sky and cars weren’t on the street. It was an incredible thing to be able to hear the world, all of a sudden, free from noise pollution,” he says. Since the start of the pandemic, Quiet Parks says it has experienced a huge increase in interest for quiet places. “I hope that we can take that desire for a world with less noise forward,” says Mikkelsen, “and appreciate the spots we have, where we can go and not experience noise pollution.”

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

A．Special.

B．Rare.

C．Common.

D．Typical.

2. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Causes of hearing loss.

B．Tips on protecting the nature.

C．Harmful effects of noise pollution.

D．Unidentified problems from human beings.

3. What will Matt Mikkelsen’s team analyse according to the text?

A．The sound recordings.	B．Global air travels.
C．Quiet Parks’ criteria.	D．Data of the pandemic.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A book review.	B．A travel guide.
C．A business plan.	D．A science report.