1 . From the dawn of civilization, paper records have been a method of keeping track of important and necessary documentation. A common experience throughout the world's record keeping has been the necessity to ensure that all documents are kept together, and none are lost.

    1     These included tying ribbons through the paper, and melting wax to secure the papers in place. For nearly 600 years, these were the methods used to secure papers.

    2     In 1835, a machine that could mass-produce straight pins was invented by Howe J. L. , an American inventor. Although straight pins （大头针）were originally designed for sewing and tailoring, people began using them as a quick and easy way to secure papers.     3     In 1899 he patented the device, which consisted of a wire bent into a particularly shaped hoop for the purpose of securing papers.

During this time, however, the paperclip （回形针）was not a widely distributed device. Therefore, the Gem Manufacturing Company of England developed a machine to manufacture and standardize the paperclip design.     4    

Today the paperclip is a famous invention used throughout offices, schoolrooms, and business throughout the world.     5    

A．The next paper invention was that of the straight pin.

B．Before the paper clip, people had to be creative to keep paper together.

C．The humble item only came into popular usage around the mid-19th century.

D．Later, inspired by the straight pin, Norwegian Vaaler J. came up with the idea of the first paperclip.

E．This manufacturing development allowed for the expansion of the modern paperclip worldwide.

F．Being a wonder of simplicity and function, the paperclip remains a standard office supply throughout the world.

G．Therefore, from the early 13th century people had created various methods to ensure documents were kept together.

2 . You’ve most likely heard the news by now: A car-commuting, desk-bound, TV-watching lifestyle can be harmful to our health. All the time that we spend rooted in the chair is linked to increased risks of so many deadly diseases that experts have named this modern-day health epidemic the “sitting disease”.

Sitting for too long slows down the body’s metabolism (新陈代谢) and the way enzymes (酶) break down our fat reserves, raising both blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Small amounts of regular activity, even just standing and moving around, throughout the day is enough to bring the increased levels back down. And those small amounts of activity add up — 30 minutes of light activity in two or three-minute bursts can be just as effective as a half-hour block of exercise. But without that activity, blood sugar levels and blood pressure keep creeping up, steadily damaging the inside of the arteries and increasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other serious diseases. In essence, fundamental changes in biology occur if you sit for too long.

But wait, you’re a runner. You needn’t worry about the harm of a sedentary lifestyle because you exercise regularly, right? Well, not so fast. Recent studies show that people spend an average of 64 hours a week sitting, whether or not they exercise 150 minutes a week as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). Regular exercisers, furthermore, are found to be about 30 percent less active on days when they exercise. Overall, most people simply aren’t exercising or moving around enough to counteract all the harm that can result from sitting nine hours or more a day.

Scared straight out of your chair? Good. The remedy is as simple as standing up and taking activity breaks.

1. What is the best way to bring down high blood sugar level and blood pressure?

A．Exercising for 150 minutes or more every week.

B．Getting rid of the habit of car commuting and TV watching.

C．Interrupting sitting time with light activity as often as possible.

D．Standing or moving around for at least two or three minutes every day.

2. What does the word “sedentary” in the third paragraph most likely mean?

A．Modern.

B．Risky.

C．Inactive.

D．Epidemic.

3. Which of the following may be inferred about those who do serious exercise?

A．They usually do not meet the standard of exercise recommended by WHO.

B．They generally spend less time sitting than those who are inactive.

C．They often live longer than those who don’t exercise.

D．They tend to stand or move around less on their work-out days.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The challenges of the modern lifestyle.

B．The reasons for the spread of a modern epidemic.

C．The effect of regular exercise on our body.

D．The threat to our health from long hours of sitting.

3 . Like many other five-year-olds, Jeanie Low of Houston, Texas, would use a stool (凳子) to help her reach the bathroom sink. However, the plastic step-stool she had at home was unstable and cluttered up the small bathroom shared by her whole family. After learning of an invention contest held by her school that year, Jeanie resolved to enter the contest by creating a stool that would be a permanent fixture in the bathroom, and yet could be kept out of the way when not in use.

Jeanie decided to make a stool attached to the bathroom cabinet door under the sink. She cut a board of wood into two pieces, each about two feet wide and one foot long. Using metal hinges (铰链) Jeanie attached one piece of the wood to the front of the cabinet door, and the second piece to the first. The first piece was set just high enough so that when it swung out horizontally from the cabinet door, the second piece would swing down from the first, just touching the ground, and so serving as a support for the first piece of the wood. This created a convenient, strong platform for any person too short to reach the sink. When not in use, the hinges allowed the two pieces of wood to fold back up tightly against the cabinet, where they were held in place by magnets. Jeanie called her invention the “Kiddie Stool”.

Jeanie’s Kiddie Stool won first place in her school’s contest. Two years later, it was awarded first prize again at Houston’s first annual Invention Fair. As a result, Jeanie was invited to make a number of public appearances with her Kiddie Stool, and was featured on local TV as well as in newspapers. Many people found the story of the Kiddie Stool inspiring because it showed that with imagination, anyone can be an inventor.

1. Why did Jeanie Low invent the Kiddie Stool, according to the passage?

A．Many other five-year-olds had problems reaching the bathroom sink.

B．She did not think that plastic stools were tall enough for her.

C．The stool in her bathroom was not firm and often got in the way.

D．She was invited to enter an invention contest held by her school.

2. Which of the following statements is true about how the Kiddie Stool works?

A．The Kiddie Stool will swing out only when the cabinet door opens.

B．It uses hinges and magnets to keep the wooden pieces in place.

C．It swings from left to right to be attached to the cabinet door.

D．The platform is supported by two pieces of metal.

3. What are the characteristics of Jeanie’s Kiddie Stool?

A．Permanent and foldable.	B．Fragile and disposable.
C．Conventional and portable.	D．Convenient and recyclable.

4. Which of the following sayings best captures the spirit of Jeanie Low’s story?

A．Failure is the mother of success.

B．Necessity is the mother of invention.

C．Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

D．Invention requires both disciplines and wild imagination.

4 . Urban gardens are valuable assets to communities. They provide green spaces to grow sustainable food, build community cohesion（凝聚力）, make new friends, connect with the earth, and much more. So, let's check out our list of 4 inspiring urban gardens in the US.

Gotham Greens

Where: New York Chicago

What: Gotham Greens first started in Brooklyn and now has four locations in New York City and Chicago. Their flagship farm in Brooklyn produces over 100, 000 pounds of greens per year. But it doesn't just produce healthy local vegetables. It is using high-tech greenhouses with solar panels to make sure the food grown is healthy and sustainable.

Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students

Where: Baltimore, Maryland

What: The Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students （BUGS）program encourages students to get their hands dirty and plant vegetables through their after-school and summer programs. Many of these kids don't have access to green spaces, and have never had the opportunity to grow food.

ReVision Urban Farm

Where: Boston, Massachusetts

What: ReVision Urban Farm in Boston works in partnership with the ReVision Family Home—a shelter for 22 homeless parents and their kids. The farm provides these families with information on healthy eating, and access to the farm's fresh vegetables. The organization also provides job training to help families escape the cycle of poverty.

Swale

Where: New York

What: Swale, a floating food forest located on a large boat, is an innovative project meant to inspire citizens to rethink the relationship between our cities and our food. This urban garden serves as both a living art exhibit and an educational farm. Food forests are sustainable gardens that include vegetables, fruit, nut trees, bushes, herbs, and vines-each one complementing the other in a symbiotic（共生的）relationship.

1. What does the BUGS program mainly do?

A．Provide job training for students.

B．Use high-tech greenhouses to grow healthy food.

C．Create a sustainable garden on a large boat.

D．Offer students the opportunity to grow vegetables.

2. Which urban garden helps people get out of poverty?

A．Gotham Greens.	B．Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students.
C．ReVision Urban Farm.	D．Swale.

3. Where can citizens go to see a food forest?

A．Chicago.	B．Baltimore.
C．Boston.	D．New York.

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。

It wasn’t fair.

Aminah always studied hard, so there was nothing unusual about her receiving top marks at the end of the year. But Farhan was often playing with the village boys when he should have been studying. To help motivate him this year, their father had promised to buy him a bicycle if his grades improved.

Aminah was sure that even this generous offer wouldn’t change her brother’s habits. But when Farhan started staying home and studying, everyone was surprised.

At the end of the school year, Aminah received top marks as she always did. And, as usual, her parents gave her 100 rupees (卢比) as a reward.

For the first time, Farhan got top marks too. True to his word, their father came home with a bicycle. It was well used, and much of the paint had been chipped (脱落) off. But to Farhan, it was the most beautiful bicycle in their country. Farhan’s friends cheered when they saw it. It was understood that something as precious as a bicycle would be shared with everyone.

Well, almost everyone.

After a few days of watching Farhan and the village boys learning to ride, Aminah and her friends grew bitter. They spent afternoons on the hill just north of the village, sitting in the shade of a mango tree and watching the lazy stream flow at the foot of the hill. They could hear the boys cheering and laughing on the other side of the hill.

“Why doesn’t he let us ride, Aminah?” asked Fatima. Aminah shrugged (耸肩), trying to act as if she didn’t care.

“He and the other boys just want the bicycle all for themselves!” replied Shehnaz. Sarah shook her head. “But Aminah is his sister! He should share with her.” An older sister commanded respect.

As they talked, the boys’ screams grew closer. Aminah looked up and saw her brother on his bicycle at the top of the hill. “Look! I can do it!” Farhan yelled at the top of his lungs. He had finally gotten the hang of it. The boys cheered as he began to speed up.

注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。

Suddenly, Farhan lost control of the bicycle, heading in the direction of the girls, toward the stream.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Farhan looked at Aminah, then at his bicycle, then back at his sister.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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。

China has seen great benefits since the launch of its carbon trading market a year ago.

The program has played     1     important role in raising low-carbon awareness. Although it only gets the power generation industry involved now, the initiative of pricing carbon emissions (排放) has boosted the     2     (develop) of carbon-related services in industries beyond. Right now more than 9,800 companies are providing such services, of which over 1,800     3     (establish) last year.

Carbon trading is the process of buying and selling permits to send out greenhouse gases. Opened     4     July 16, 2021, the market now includes     5     (national) 2,162 power-generating companies, covering about 4.5 billion tons of carbon emissions. That has made China the world’s     6     (large) market for carbon trading. The program puts carbon emission limits on every unit of electricity a power plant generates. After each cycle of trading, companies     7     have leftover carbon allowances (额度) can sell them to others. If     8     (fall) short, they’ll have to buy allowances.

The program has proven its value in motivating companies     9     (reduce) emissions at a lower cost. However, officials say China needs to make further efforts to improve the support systems, get the market to run smoothly     10     enhance the quality of carbon emission data.

7 . Our savings ran out and we were going to lose our house. We had to move into Grandpa’s house, which had been old and beyond _________ when Grandpa Mac was living. Now that the place had been _________ for more than five years, it became much worse.

The roof seemed to leak _________. Hundreds of thousands of footsteps had _________ the finish (饰面) off the hardwood floors. One of the doors on the kitchen cupboards was broken and it _________ open forever. Worst of all, the white paint on the walls was beginning to fall but there was _________ nothing we could do about that.

Joe and I both tried to be _________ around Kelly as we packed to move. She was only three. As long as we didn’t give her the wrong _________, she wouldn’t notice the poor condition of her new home.

One evening, I walked out into the back yard to _________ the heavy heat in the house. __________ there wasn’t any air conditioning. Kelly was busy __________ the dandelions (蒲公英) in the yard. She smiled when she saw me and ran over to give me a bright yellow bunch. “We have __________ in the yard, Mommy. Most people just have grass,” she said. “We also have pretty butterflies. This must be the __________ place in the whole world to live.”

I suddenly __________ things were not that bad. It took a three-year-old to teach me how to see something to be __________ for in our new home.

1.

A．control

B．repair

C．recognition

D．comparison

2.

A．empty

B．noisy

C．secret

D．busy

3.

A．for no reason

B．in every respect

C．on no account

D．at any moment

4.

A．worn

B．kept

C．cut

D．cleared

5.

A．proved

B．felt

C．grew

D．stood

6.

A．hardly

B．simply

C．suddenly

D．occasionally

7.

A．brave

B．friendly

C．energetic

D．cheerful

8.

A．warning

B．answer

C．message

D．lesson

9.

A．escape

B．defeat

C．release

D．absorb

10.

A．Probably

B．Accidentally

C．Naturally

D．Consequently

11.

A．planting

B．picking

C．watering

D．observing

12.

A．flowers

B．insects

C．seats

D．trees

13.

A．quietest

B．safest

C．nicest

D．cleanest

14.

A．confirmed

B．declared

C．recalled

D．realized

15.

A．eager

B．grateful

C．concerned

D．responsible

8 . We’ve been test-driving some new cars recently. I appreciate the clean and simple design inside. For some reasons, many car makers have been shifted from physical controls to touch screens.     1     Instead of lots of physical buttons, you have a single touch screen. You can use it to move between the different controls.

The touch screen is a single system for many controls in your car. So simple? Actually, not simple at all.     2     It will always be more challenging to use. It will likely take more time to use for each function. Worse still, the touch screen may also put you at greater risk of being in an accident.

In a car with buttons and other physical controls, you can often perform the same tasks without looking.     3     And you most likely receive physical feedback (反馈) through your fingers letting you know you’ve succeeded. Buttons are probably faster than touch screens. With a button, you reach over and easily get your fingers on it.

    4     They may be effective, but many also require multiple attempts to work. If you’ve ever asked your phone to do something, you know there are still challenges in speech recognition.

However, if you need to use the touch screen to control systems in your car, I have a few suggestions. Get your basic setup running before your car is running down the road. If you have a passenger, let that person control the touch screen.     5    

A．But this also means extra steps for each action.

B．The touch screen is far more complex than buttons.

C．New cars are often completely touch screen-controlled.

D．Physical controls have great advantages over touch screens.

E．Always keep your eyes on the road instead of the fancy screen.

F．You know when your hand is in the right place to use the controls.

G．Some cars with touch screen controls can respond to voice commands.

9 . Some penguins (企鹅) adapt their calls to become more similar to their partners over time, an ability that was previously known in only a few species, including humans.

Luigi Baciadonna at the University of Turin, Italy, and his coworkers recorded African penguins from three different colonies (群体) over three years, and also observed the behavioral patterns of one of the colonies to see which penguins were partners or friendly.

They then analyzed specific vocal (声音的) calls, which the penguins made when they were alone or trying to keep track of their friends. They compared four distinct vocal signatures such as the frequency of the calls. The signatures became more similar over time for penguins that were partners or in the same colony, and for penguins that heard more of each other’s calls.

This adaptation could make it easier for penguins to find their partners and friends in a colony. “Imagine that you are in a pub, you are with your friends and your environment is quite noisy,” says Baciadonna. “What you do is try to talk in a certain way so that your communication is more effective.”

The ability to adapt calls in response to the environment, known as vocal accommodation, is a key part of vocal learning, a more complex set of skills such as producing new sounds through learning. Identifying which species display vocal accommodation could provide clues for how vocal learning developed. Baciadonna and his team also propose that this accommodation could help with group harmony and social bonds between individual penguins.

The distance of penguins from humans on the evolutionary tree suggests that vocal accommodation could be common to many species, but a lot more data needs gathering first. “There could be a huge variety of different species that are able to adapt their calls slightly, but we don’t know that yet,” says Sara Torres Ortiz at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Munich, Germany.

1. What does the underlined word “signatures” mean in paragraph 3?

A．Effects.

B．Characteristics.

C．Sources.

D．Adjustments.

2. What is the intention of the quotes from Baciadonna in paragraph 4?

A．To explain the reason why penguins adapt their calls.

B．To highlight the role communication plays in social life.

C．To prove humans’ ability to recognize each other’s voices.

D．To stress the difference between human and animal sounds.

3. What remains to be explored according to Sara Torres Ortiz?

A．Whether penguins can promote group harmony.

B．Whether all species can adapt to the environment.

C．Whether more species display vocal accommodation.

D．Whether penguins and humans are similar in vocal learning.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Vocal learning involves a complex set of skills.

B．Vocal accommodation helps build up social bonds.

C．Penguins produce similar sounds even in different colonies.

D．Penguins adapt their accents to sound more like their friends.

10 . As a new mother in 2016, Tash Gorst was scrolling (翻阅) through her phone when she fell down the rabbit hole of reading about plastic pollution. Fast-forward to 2019 and she had opened Gather, an organic zero-waste shop.

Customers come to Gather to refill their own containers with everything from rice to beauty products. And it’s not only the produce that is sustainable — the shop is powered by renewable energy and financed by a more sustainable bank, while all the units inside have been made from waste materials, mostly by Gorst herself.

Zero-waste shops have become an increasingly common feature on the streets in recent years. Where they have gone, supermarkets now look set to follow, with Morrisons, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose all recently agreeing to add refill stations in shops by the end of this year. Meanwhile, Asda has introduced refill aisles (过道) to more of its supermarkets following successful trials.

As small startup businesses aiming to make responsible decisions without cutting ethical (道德上的) corners, refill shops tend to be more expensive than supermarkets and chains. Gorst acknowledges that not everyone can afford to buy from them.

“But if you can, you should. You’ll feel good about the small decision that you’ve made in contributing to your local economy and doing something that’s better for the planet,” she says.

Emily, Drabble is a regular Gather customer. She buys everything that would “normally be encased in plastic”, from cleaning products to food like pasta, which she puts into glass containers. “When I get home, I love unpacking my shopping, throwing nothing in the bin,” Drabble says.

And customers at refill shops get more than just physical goods, notes Gorst. Besides employing four local people, Gather, for example, holds free events, including a monthly book club for reading about sustainability, workshops for kids and so on. “I also see it as a place to bring people together,” she says.

1. Why does the author mention Gorst’s random reading in paragraph 1?

A．To share a parenting experience.	B．To offer background information.
C．To attach importance to motivation.	D．To show advantages of digital reading.

2. Which of the following is a significant feature of Gather?

A．It is run in an ecologically friendly way.	B．It sells sustainable goods at bargain prices.
C．It is only favored by customers with a green concept.	D．It differs from supermarkets in low-carbon awareness.

3. What is Drabble’s attitude towards refill shops?

A．Amused.

B．Critical.

C．Objective.

D．Enthusiastic.

4. What does the example in the last paragraph imply?

A．People may regard refill shops as fitness clubs.

B．Refill shops ought to share some social responsibilities.

C．People can benefit more from refill shops than expected.

D．Refill shops need to hold various events to promote sales.