1 . As the world struggles to deal with climate change, some companies are working to capture(捕捉) polluting carbon dioxide(CO₂) from the air.
The heavy use of fossil fuels(化石燃料) over the last 150 years has released massive amounts of greenhouse gases, like CO₂, which have caused the Earth to warm up.
Scientists say large amounts of CO₂must be removed from the atmosphere and stored. Plants and trees do this naturally. But there’s so much CO₂in the atmosphere that just planting trees and protecting forests won’t solve the problem. And, when plants and trees die, the carbon they’ve stored gets released again. That means humans need to come up with ways of removing carbon from the air and storing it. This is called Direct Air Capture(DAC).
A company called Heirloom has just opened the first DAC plant in the United States. Heirloom’s process uses limestone, a common rock, to capture CO₂. The company heats up the limestone to separate out the CO₂, which is then locked away in concrete. Heirloom uses renewable electricity to produce the heat, so the process, though expensive, doesn’t produce more CO₂. The new plant can remove 1, 000 tons of CO₂a year. That’s a tiny amount compared to how much carbon needs to be removed from the atmosphere. But the company says it hopes to remove a billion tons per year by 2035. Graphyte, another US company working on DAC, collects unwanted plants and wood products and dries them completely so they can’t break down. Graphyte then smashes them into small bricks and buries them deep underground.
Not everyone is excited about carbon removal. Some experts worry that it will take too long for DAC technology to become powerful enough to make a difference. Others worry that focusing on removing carbon could take attention away from more important climate actions, like switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
1. What does the author try to say in paragraph 3?| A．Protecting forests is necessary. | B．The climate crisis is unavoidable. |
| C．Why DAC has come into being. | D．Why there’s much CO₂in the air. |
| A．It’s hard to find proper limestone. | B．The process produces more CO₂. |
| C．It needs an amount of electricity. | D．It doesn’t capture enough CO₂ now. |
| A．It promotes renewable energy. | B．It has a long way to go. |
| C．It can beat climate change. | D．It is so cost-effective. |
| A．Exploring Methods of Removing CO₂ |
| B．Building Two Plants to Capture CO₂ |
| C．Planting Trees to Fight Climate Crisis |
| D．Replacing Fossil Fuels by Using DAC |
One day two years ago, my mother came home from work and announced that she had found a pet for the family. My father, little sister, and I eyed her in doubt.
My sister asked what kind of dog it was. My mother said it was a poodle (贵宾犬) named Pepe. I couldn’t believe she wanted a poodle — especially one with such an ordinary name. But she had made up her mind. “Actually, I’m doing a co-worker a favor,” she said. “The woman who owns Pepe says he hates to be alone and needs children to play with him.”
Pepe arrived the next night. His short tail shook happily. I didn’t get very close to him, thinking he should have stayed with his previous owner. My little sister played with him until bedtime, and he would come to me and begged for more attention. I always ignored him. But no matter how I treated him, he’d always like to be with me. He has always been waiting for me at the front door at the end of the day, smiling happily. He seems to know that I will be coming home from school at that time. Every day, he asks me with his eyes to play with him or take him somewhere. At night, he will wait until I fall asleep, leave his bed by the wall heater, walk down the hall and jump onto the end of my bed.
One night, while everyone was sleeping, I was in a half dream state. My throat hurt, my eyes pained, and some animal was crying in my ear. I opened my eyes and saw fog in my room. I wondered who left the window open. Pepe cried and bit my pajama sleeve (睡衣袖). Then I woke up and realized that it wasn’t fog in my room — it was smoke.
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。
Standing up, I couldn’t breathe.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I turned off the burner with Pepe around me.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As a visitor that just finished a tour of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge—the world’s longest cross-sea bridge, Yu Mei said she was deeply impressed.
“As a former engineer, I was amazed by this national super engineering project after
The bridge, with a
“The bridge tour offers unique experiences
During the tour, visitors also have the chance
5 . In mid-October many years ago, I, with my little sick daughter, needed to pick up my youngest son from school. In a station, I fueled(加油) my car with my last dollar.
Once out of the station, the tire was flat(爆胎) and I was out of
I
Then, I thanked him, telling him I couldn’t
Tracey stopped to help a
| A．control | B．sight | C．cash | D．breath |
| A．unnoticed | B．unaccepted | C．unaffected | D．unknown |
| A．promised | B．allowed | C．told | D．forced |
| A．reminded | B．informed | C．warned | D．convinced |
| A．window | B．tire | C．wallet | D．phone |
| A．enthusiastically | B．finally | C．gradually | D．nervously |
| A．appearing | B．coming | C．working | D．returning |
| A．again | B．too | C．already | D．instead |
| A．looking forward to | B．keeping up with | C．caring about | D．calling on |
| A．refuse | B．hesitate | C．fail | D．afford |
| A．make | B．replace | C．find | D．repair |
| A．job | B．business | C．trick | D．majority |
| A．free | B．eager | C．ready | D．brave |
| A．number | B．name | C．career | D．payment |
| A．stranger | B．friend | C．passenger | D．neighbor |
6 . Learning English can be fun and useful. However, it can also seem difficult sometimes. But be relaxed! We’ve got some top tips on how to learn English effectively.
Find a routine. Learning a language takes a lot of time and practice. Therefore, it helps if you have a routine when you are studying.
Connect with the culture. Understanding English is easier if you can understand the culture of those who natively speak it. If you’re particularly interested in British English, for example, you could learn about the culture and history of the UK.
Make mistakes. You won’t be perfect at English straightaway. All learners(and many native speakers!)make mistakes in English.
| A．Set a goal. |
| B．Read what you like. |
| C．Develop a fixed study habit. |
| D．This method helps you to stay motivated. |
| E．There are 19 native English-speaking countries. |
| F．These errors can help you learn and improve your English skills. |
| G．You should think about how long you can study for each day or week. |
7 . A survey of 2, 000 American adults finds that an average American spends nearly $3, 000 a year on unused groceries (杂货).
The survey shows that when people do cook, a quarter of them always make more food than they’re able to finish, usually with the intention of having leftovers (剩菜剩饭). On average, people have leftovers to put into their fridges three times a week; however, they don’t always get around to using them up. Actually, a third admit they’re likely to forget about leftovers once they’re out of sight. Forgetting about food is one of the top reasons people end up having food waste, along with leftovers not being popular among family members(23%). While 4 in 10 have a strong desire to eat their leftovers, a quarter admit they get tired of eating the same thing before they’re able to finish.
“With the rapid rise of food costs, wasting groceries each week hurts both nature and consumers’ wallets, “says director of sustainability at HelloFresh, Jeffrey Yorzyk. “Families cook with the best intention of using their leftovers, but our research shows that they’re generally not consuming all of those leftovers. Getting creative with the food in your fridge can help families feel like they’re eating something new and exciting!”
For some people, what excites them at the supermarket doesn’t do it anymore when they get home. The survey shows that 38%admit they’ve thrown food away simply because they don’t feel like eating it after purchasing it. Some waste starts even before shoppers get home, as a fifth say they don’t know how much food they’ll use when grocery shopping.
With these foods, 22%are not confident they know the best methods to store foods to keep freshness. Happily, seven in ten are trying to cut down on food waste. In fact, once you’ve bought food at the grocery store, there are a number of strategies to ensure you can save it completely and cook it smartly.
1. Which is the percentage of Americans preferring to have leftovers?| A．23%. | B．25%. | C．33%. | D．40%. |
| A．Eating them up at once. | B．Deal with them inventively. |
| C．Using them to protect nature. | D．Giving them up to save money. |
| A．Attract the shoppers. | B．Produce leftovers. |
| C．Lose the freshness. | D．Go to the fridges. |
| A．Benefits of saving foods. | B．The art of cooking in the USA. |
| C．The recent studies of leftovers. | D．Ways to reduce grocery waste. |
8 . One day when DeJuan Strickland was in fourth grade, he didn’t have the money for school lunch. “That really kind of stuck with me, ”said DeJuan, now 15. This year, DeJuan, who goes by DJ, raised money on the GoFundMe website. “I wanted to do something to make sure other kids don’t have to feel that same way. ”
DJ’s goal was to raise $200 to help parents in his community pay for their kids’ school meals. In less than two weeks, he raised $400. He went back to his old school, and presented the principal(校长)with a check.
Now he’s raising money to support the entire Hazelwood School District. That includes more than 30 schools. “Sometimes, school lunch is the only meal a kid can depend on, “he says. ”I’m doing what I can to fight food insecurity. “As of September 23, 2023, donations to DJ’s fundraising campaigns totaled nearly $10, 000. Food insecurity affected more than 44 million people in America in 2022. Many kids rely on school meals, which families can struggle to pay for. A report by the School Nutrition Association shows that unpaid school meal debt in the U. S. topped $19 million in 2022.
This school year, six states—Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Vermont—have made school meals free for all public school students, regardless of their family’s wealth.
DJ is now in high school. He keeps busy playing football and running Team Tech Boy, a business he started when he was 12 to encourage kids’ interest in STEM. And he has written two STEM-themed books, Tech Boy and Science Girl. For college, DJ hopes to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “I plan to become a computer programmer and video-game developer, ”he says.
At the moment, DJ and his mom are working to set up an organization to deal with food insecurity and other issues that affect young people. “We want to do more initiatives like the lunch-money fundraiser, ”he says. “But on a larger scale(规模). ”
1. What made DJ collect money to help others?| A．His own past experience. | B．The principal’s example. |
| C．His parents’ encouragement. | D．The call from his community. |
| A．It happens in six states. | B．It’s exactly wide-spread. |
| C．It’s slowly disappearing. | D．It affects a family’s wealth. |
| A．He dreams of becoming a writer. | B．He is a determined student. |
| C．He has a wide range of interests. | D．He has earned much money. |
| A．Difficult. | B．Successful. | C．Time-saving. | D．Out-dated. |
9 . Below are some fun holidays. Which do you like best?
Hug Your Cat Day
It falls on June 4. On this unofficial holiday, go and give your cat a big hug. Although its origins are unknown, it’s clear that the creators wanted people to let their cats know that they are loved. Studies have shown that giving your cat a hug can reduce stress and help you relax.
Pardon Day
It’s on September 8, a day to seek and give forgiveness and be kind to everyone and forgive those who may have hurt you. It’s thought that this unofficial holiday owes its existence to the pardon given by United States President Gerald Ford to former President Nixon.
Swap Ideas Day
It falls on September 10, which is a day to share thoughts, exchange ideas, trade opinions and discuss views with family members, friends, co-workers and strangers.
This unofficial holiday promotes the concept that knowledge grows best when shared and that best ideas come about through teamwork. The day is also known in the United States as National Swap Ideas Day.
Teddy Bear Day
This unofficial holiday is on September 9, a day to bring out all your teddy bears and thank them for the fun times you have had with them, and for all the days and nights they comforted you. Created in the early 20th century, this toy owes its name to American President Theodore Roosevelt, who was lovingly called Teddy by his family and friends, and it’s also become a part of children’s literature.
1. Which holiday has something to do with American presidents?| A．Pardon Day. | B．Swap Ideas Day. |
| C．Teddy Bear Day. | D．Hug Your Cat Day |
| A．Pride comes before a fall. | B．Great minds speak alike. |
| C．Two heads are better than one. | D．It is never too late to learn. |
| A．They are celebrated in September. | B．They owe their existence to animals. |
| C．They contribute to children’s books. | D．They’re only recognized by the public. |
10 . Endangered polar bears are breeding (繁殖) with grizzly bears (灰熊), creating “pizzly” bears, which is being driven by climate change, scientists say.
As the world warms and Arctic sea ice thins, starving polar bears are being forced ever further south, where they meet grizzlies, whose ranges are expanding northwards. And with that growing contact between the two come increasing hybrids (杂交种).
With characteristics that could give the hybrids an advantage in warming northern habitats, some scientists guess that they could be here to stay. “Usually, hybrids aren’t better suited to their environments than their parents, but these hybrids are able to search for a broader range of food sources,” Larisa DeSantis, an associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, told Live Science.
The rise of “pizzly” bears appears with polar bears’ decline: their numbers are estimated to decrease by more than 30% in the next 30 years. This sudden fall is linked partly to “pizzly” bears taking up polar bears’ ranges, where they outcompete them, but also to polar bears’ highly specialized diets.
“Polar bears mainly consumed soft foods even during the Medieval Warm Period, a previous period of rapid warming,” DeSantis said, referring to fat meals such as seals. “Although all of these starving polar bears are trying to find alternative food sources, like seabird eggs, it could be a tipping point for their survival.” Actually, the calories they gain from these sources do not balance out those they burn from searching for them. This could result in a habitat ready for the hybrids to move in and take over, leading to a loss in biodiversity if polar bears are replaced.
“We’re having massive impacts with climate change on species,” DeSantis said. “The polar bear is telling us how bad things are. In some sense, “pizzly” bears could be a sad but necessary compromise given current warming trends.”
1. Why do polar bears move further south?| A．To create hybrids. | B．To expand territory. |
| C．To relieve hunger. | D．To contact grizzlies. |
| A．Broader habitats. | B．More food options. |
| C．Climate preference. | D．Improved breeding ability. |
| A．A rare chance. | B．A critical stage. |
| C．A positive factor. | D．A constant change. |
| A．Polar bears are changing diets for climate change. |
| B．Polar bears have already adjusted to climate change. |
| C．“Pizzly” bears are on the rise because of global warming. |
| D．“Pizzly”bears have replaced polar bears for global warming. |
