1 . 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。

Mechanization of Xinjiang's cotton sector approaches 90%

A total of 2 million     1     (hectare) of cotton farmland in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will be harvested by machinery rather than by hand, according to     2     region’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The increase     3     (expect) to raise the mechanization rate of cotton production to 88 percent this year, as the region continues     4     (promote) mechanization in the whole process of agricultural production, the department said recently.

In Shaya county, many tractors can be seen     5     (busy) planting cotton fields, instead of lots of farmers sowing by hand, as spring temperatures rise.

Aksu, a major cotton-growing area in     6     (south) Xinjiang, saw cotton output of more than 1 million metric tons in 2020, making up about one     7     (six) of the country’s total, according to the local government.

“It is encouraging     8     a specialized agricultural machinery cooperative was founded in 2017 in Shaya to provide agricultural machinery and technology     9     cotton farmers,” said Ma Zhan-ming, head of the cooperative. “The cooperative can provide mechanization     10     (serve) during the whole process, from spring sowing to harvest.”

2 . National Napping Day: reasons you should nap.

Finding the time to recover among daily responsibilities can be hard, but napping has benefits that could help you level up in your overall health and productivity.     1     In other words, if you feel like calling it a day and feeling sleepy, don’t feel bad.

    2     Taking a nap once or twice a week could lower the risk of heart attacks or strokes, according to a study published in the journal Heart. After tracking more than 3,400 people between the ages of 35 and 75 for slightly more than five years, the researchers found that those who liked occasional napping -once or twice a week, for five minutes to an hour-were 48% less likely to experience a heart attack, stroke or heart failure than those who didn’t nap at all.

It might even help you get into shape. A 2020 study focusing on women found the more sleep-deprived (失眠) the women were, the more likely they were to consume added sugar, fatty foods and caffeine.     3     That’s because inadequate sleep is believed to stimulate hunger and suppress hormone signals that communicate fullness.

Napping has been found to boost your creativity.     4     In a January 2020 study of 2,214 Chinese adults ages 60 and older, participants who took afternoon naps for five minutes to two hours showed better mental ability than those who didn’t nap.

Napping may not ensure success in every aspect of your life, but it could improve your health and charge your brain's batteries.     5    

A．Now go lie down.

B．You'll have lower risk for heart problems.

C．Taking a nap may make your brain more alert.

D．A lack of quality sleep could lead to overeating.

E．A short nap may also make you feel more relaxed.

F．The right side of your brain may experience a mental spark during a nap.

G．It means there is no reason to feel as if you’re lazy for taking a quick nap.

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。

How do you count 1.3 billion people in the middle of a pandemic? China, as the world's most populous country, will launch its seventh     1     ( nation) census (人口普查) on November 1.

According to state-run news agency Xinhua, the huge undertaking will see around 7 million census     2     (worker) spread out across the country,     3     ( collect) names, ID numbers, gender, marital details, as well as education and professional information.

As well as traditional methods, citizens will also     4     ( recommend) using cell phones and other digital tools     5     (declare) personal and family information.

China conducts its census every 10 years. The last survey     6     (find) the population had increased from 1.29 billion to 1.37 billion. Last year, the country's birthrate hit its     7     (low) level since the founding of the People's Republic     8     1949. The statistics also revealed that more than 250 million Chinese were over 60 years old last year,     9     make up more than 18% of the population. The figure is forecast to rise to a third of the population by 2050 — or 480 million people.

This year's census may even show a decrease in     10     total size of the population for the first time in decades, setting the stage for India to overtake China as the world's most populous country.

4 . WHERE TO STAY IN SYDNEY

Whether you want to stay in a converted beer factory, a luxury hotel on the harbour or an advanced loft-style room, Sydney has a huge range of top-quality hotels.

1. THE OLD CLARE HOTEL

Located in the heart of Sydney’s Central Park district, The Old Clare Hotel, providing luxurious (豪华的) rooms and facilities, takes up a historic Chippendale pub and the nearby former beer factory site. This hotel has been lovingly restored by Peng Loh, a Singaporean businessman with a passion for redecorating heritage properties.

2. HILTON SYDNEY

This is luxury accommodation right in the centre of Sydney, with world-class restaurants, one of the city’s best bars. Just upstairs sits Glass, the award-winning small restaurant by celebrity chef Luke Mangan. Downstairs lies The Marble Bar, a Sydney hotspot for decades and heritage listed due to its extensive use of marble, dating back to 1893. Rooms are simply fashionable.

3. THE LANGHAM

Grand harborside luxury can be expected at The Langham, located in the Sydney centre. The hotel makes the most of its impressive harbour views with a marble-decorated hall that takes your breath away. Don’t forget to check out the art, with a collection of Australia’s most famous painter. Try their famous high tea menu, and be sure to check out the incredible underground swimming pool available to guests only.

4. FOUR SEASONS HOTEL SYDNEY

Another luxury stay with amazing harbour views, the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney sits on the edge of Sydney’s historic Rocks district. A Deluxe Harbour Room will give you a breath-taking view, with dark wood and silk inside in calming colours. Downstairs is Grain, one of the best-known whisky bars in the city.

1. Which of the following hotels houses a restaurant by a famous chef?

A．The Langham.	B．Hilton Sydney.
C．The Old Clare Hotel.	D．The Four Seasons Hotel Sydney.

2. What privilege can guests enjoy in The Langham?

A．A taste of the famous high tea for free.

B．Access to the underground swimming pool.

C．A rest in the impressive marble-decorated hall.

D．A good look at the collection of famous paintings.

3. What do all the hotels have in common?

A．Famous bars.	B．Harbour views.
C．Heritage properties.	D．Luxurious facilities.

5 . British sculptor Jason Taylor has made it his mission to use his talent to conserve our ecosystems by creating underwater museums. Over the years, the environmentalist has put over 850 massive artworks underwater worldwide. On February 1, 2021, Taylor launched his latest work---The Underwater Museum of Cannes.

“The main goal was to bring attention to the fact that our oceans need our help,” Taylor told Dezeen. “Ocean ecologies have been destroyed by human activity in the Mediterranean over the past few decades, and it is not obvious what is taking place when observing the sea from afar.”

The Underwater Museum of Cannes contains 6 sculptures featuring local residents of various ages. They range from Maurice, an 80-year-old fisherman, to Anouk, a 9-year-old student. Towering over 6-feet-tall and weighing 10 tons, the faces are sectioned into two parts, with the outer part like a mask. The mask indicates that the world’s oceans appear powerful and unbeatable from the surface but house an ecosystem that is extremely fragile to careless human activities.

Though the waters surrounding the sculptures now appear a pristine blue, the seabed was filled with old boat engines, pipes, and other human-made trash when the project began about four years ago. Besides removing the trash, Taylor also restored the area’s seagrass. Just one square meter of the seagrass can generate up to 10 liters of oxygen daily. The seagrass also helps prevent coastal erosion and provides habitats for many ocean creatures.

“The idea of creating an underwater museum was to draw more people underwater and develop a sense of care and protection,” Taylor told Dezeen. “If we threw unwanted waste near a forest, there would be a public outcry. But this is happening every day in our surrounding waters and it largely goes unnoticed.”

1. What are the underwater museums intended to do?

A．To make huge profits.	B．To raise awareness of protecting the ocean.
C．To show Jason Taylor’s talent.	D．To draw attention to endangered sea animals.

2. Why does the outer part of the sculptures look like a mask?

A．To popularize the features of the locals.

B．To remind people to protect themselves.

C．To reflect people’s protection of the ocean.

D．To stress the sensitiveness of the ecosystem.

3. What’s Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．How the project was started.	B．How the seagrass was restored.
C．What recovery effort the project made.	D．Why the surroundings were improved.

4. What can we infer from what Jason Taylor said in the last paragraph?

A．The situation of the ocean is easily ignored.

B．The destruction caused to the ocean is noticeable.

C．Forests play a more important role in ecosystems.

D．People have zero tolerance to damage done to nature.

6 . Diversity in the outdoors: Students Group

Thursday, October 8, 2021, 2 — 3:30 pm

ASI Peak Adventures is excited to host a discussion on diversity in outdoor activities. People from some cultural backgrounds are historically fewer in outdoor leisure, but the tide is changing. More and more people from all backgrounds are interacting with nature. In this group, students will discuss what the outdoors means to them and share adventure stories.

Location Virtual — ZOOM

No Man’s Land Film Festival

Friday, October 23, 2021, 6 — 11 pm

ASI Peak Adventures is excited to support and host a virtual showing of the No Man’s Land Film Festival. While we cannot all be together on campus just yet, we can all be together in community watching women fascinated in the outdoors. These films will inspire you to promote the women in your life and possibly your next big adventure! This event is free for students and there is a $10 suggested donation. Let No Man’s Land Film Festival kick off your weekend!

Location Virtual — ZOOM

Yellowstone

Thursday, December 3, 2021, 4 — 4:30 pm

Join us and explore Yellowstone National Park from the comfort of your own home. With our provided virtual tour, come and see some of the famous main attractions around the park. Throughout your adventure, you can learn about the history and nature that inhabit the park. Also included is some additional information about visiting Yellowstone in person. We hope to see you on our tour!

Location Virtual — ZOOM

1. What will the students do in the group?

A．List some interesting outdoor activities.

B．Work out the meaning of changing tide.

C．Tell some adventure stories to each other.

D．Do some historical outdoor activities.

2. What is special about No Man’s Land Film Festival?

A．it charges students $10 for donation.

B．it focuses on women’s love for the outdoors.

C．it will be held on campus at weekends.

D．it admits women’s adventurers for the festival.

3. What do the three activities have in common?

A．They are all free for students.	B．They all last the same period.
C．They are all outdoor activities.	D．They are all online activities.

7 . Shining just 12 light-years from Earth, the star Tau Ceti so resembles the sun that it has appeared in numerous science- fiction stories and was the first star astronomers ever searched for signs of intelligent life, half a century ago. In 2012 Tau Ceti grew still more interesting when astronomers reported five possible planets somewhat larger than Earth circling closer to the star than Mars orbits (围绕……运动) the sun—one of which is in the star’s habitable zone. Newly released images taken by the Herschel Space Observatory provide even more insight about Tau Ceti’s solar system: greater detail about its dust belt.

Dust arises when asteroids and comets (小行星和彗星) crash into one another, so its location reveals where these dust- creating objects—which are too small to be seen directly—orbit a star. In Tau Ceti’s case, “it’s quite a wide dust belt,” says Samantha Lawler of the University of Victoria in British Columbia. As her team reported in November, the belt’s inner edge is roughly two to three astronomical units (AUs) from the star, which is the position of our own sun’s asteroid belt. (An AU is the distance from Earth to the sun.) Tau Ceti’s dust belt extends out to 55 AU, which would be just beyond our system’s main Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, the zone of small bodies whose largest member is probably Pluto. Presumably full of asteroids and comets, Tau Ceti’s dust belt most likely lacks a planet as large as Jupiter, Lawler says. The gravity of such a massive planet would have driven away most small space rocks.

Within a year a new series of radio telescopes in Chile called ALMA should provide a sharper view of the disk, especially of its inner edge. The ALMA images will help astronomers confirm whether the star’s five proposed planets are indeed real. If the disk overlaps the planets’ hypothesized (假设的) orbits, then they probably do not exist; they would have kept away most asteroids near the star, removing the source of dust.

If those planets do exist, however, Lawler’s team suggests that Tau Ceti’s planetary system may resemble what our solar system would have looked like had the four giant planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune- never formed: small planets orbiting close to the star, and nothing but asteroids, comets and dust beyond.

1. According to astronomers, the five possible planets of Tau Ceti________.

A．resembled Earth in size

B．functioned like a solar system

C．were located in Tau Ceti’s habitable zone

D．were nearer to Tau Ceti than Mars to the sun

2. Which of the following is true of Tau Ceti’s dust belt?

A．It is narrower than the asteroid belt in our system.

B．The bodies inside it are all smaller than Jupiter.

C．The gravity of Tau Ceti makes it get denser.

D．It is over 55 astronomical units in width.

3. According to the passage, the five planets are most likely to exist if________.

A．they don’t move into the dust belt while orbiting Tau Ceti

B．they have kept away most asteroids and comets

C．they don’t crash into any asteroid or comet

D．they can be seen clearly by ALMA

4. It can be inferred from the passage that Tau Ceti’s dust belt________.

A．is useful because it stops asteroids or comets crashing into the star

B．makes Tau Ceti different from the sun because it extends farther

C．is interesting because it keeps other planets away from Tau Ceti

D．plays a role in helping decide whether the five planets are real

8 . Little Free Library (LFL) steward Sandy Freel has a rare disease. Some days are _________ for her to see things than others.“The doctor says I will be _________ within five years," said Sandy. She also recently _________ her husband.

She started an LFL _________ her husband, as they both loved to _________. One day, while walking in her neighborhood, Sandy _________ an old bench that she thought would make a nice addition to her _________ When she asked the gentleman who _________ the bench if it was for sale, he hesitated and told her that his wife who had _________ used to sit on it, drinking coffee and reading books.

Sandy __________ understood why he was unwilling to give it up, but told him that __________ he ever changed his mind she would love to buy it so that people would sit on it while reading in her LFL. Although full of __________, he still told her that he would __________ it by that Sunday so that he could also stop at her LFL to sit when he walked his dog. They both had tears in their eyes. “Now we both have a place to sit and __________ our loved ones,” said Sandy.

After starting her LFL, she felt like she had a new purpose again. “I would encourage anyone to stop by and experience the joy of books, which are gifts to people who may feel low and need a __________ ,” Sandy said.

1.

A．more difficult

B．clearer

C．more convenient

D．lazier

2.

A．dumb

B．blind

C．lame

D．deaf

3.

A．left

B．met

C．supported

D．lost

4.

A．in honor of

B．in charge of

C．in advance of

D．in search of

5.

A．design

B．travel

C．read

D．sing

6.

A．cleaned up

B．came across

C．looked for

D．fixed up

7.

A．driveway

B．garden

C．balcony

D．library

8.

A．painted

B．required

C．produced

D．owned

9.

A．passed away

B．moved away

C．run away

D．broken away

10.

A．hardly

B．typically

C．immediately

D．fortunately

11.

A．if

B．why

C．how

D．unless

12.

A．courage

B．hesitation

C．gratitude

D．suspicion

13.

A．check

B．purchase

C．bring

D．change

14.

A．persuade

B．remember

C．admire

D．tolerate

15.

A．suggestion

B．lift

C．promotion

D．job

9 . Your guide to becoming the perfect gift giver

Trying to find the perfect present is as difficult as trying to read someone's mind. Few people will actually tell you what they want for a special occasion, and most of the time your loved ones will insist that they don't need or want anything!     1     Here are some tips that could help.

Be honest - do you wait until the last minute to start looking for presents?     2     So are we! However, starting your shopping early can have a number of advantages. The closer it gets to holidays such as Christmas, the higher the prices creep up. So, if you wait too long, you might have to spend quite a bit more on what you want.

    3     Now is the time to put your thinking cap on as you make a list. Here, you can write down everything the receivers love. This can include food, hobbies, experiences, and more     4     If you are lucky, you should be able to find a few good ideas in one of these lists. At the very least, you will have some ideas of which direction you should head off in.

    5     Often, the reason you get stuck for gift ideas is because you are restricting yourself too much. If you are only fixed on the same kind of presents then you'll run out of inspiration. There really are many wonderful out - of - the - box ideas to select from. If a regular present isn't doing the trick, it may be time to think a little bigger. Instead of a physical gift, you can give someone an experience that they will never forget.

A．So what to do?

B．You are definitely not alone.

C．Save your money by being an early bird.

D．You will be able to give them the gift of friendship.

E．If you are still coming up empty, it is time to get creative.

F．What memory between the two of you stand out the most?

G．Once you have done this, you can move onto the things they need.

10 . Over the past ten months of pandemic life, cooking has become a shelter for me. New York Times food editor Sam Sifton referred to Korean fried rice and said it "improves moods, atmospheres and weeks alike".     1     I'd argue it improves physical health, finances and skills, and reduces stress. Really, cooking is a rewarding thing you should do these days.

Cooking food for yourself is beneficial to your physical health. When you cook your own food, you control exactly what goes into your body. It's the best possible way to “dial in” or clean up your diet.     2     A recent survey has found that twice as many Americans are cooking at home than a year ago, and that nearly a quarter are doing so in an effort to eat healthier.

    3       It's considerably cheaper than ordering from restaurants, or buying prepared food from supermarkets. It's found that ordering takeout is five times more expensive. The difference is more obvious if you’re cooking for a family.

In terms of improving cooking skill, you can't help but improve if you do it over and over again. With so many other outlets for hobbies shut down right now, why not view your kitchen as a mini universe to be explored? You've got the tools, not to mention the human requirement to eat. I can't think of another hobby where your body physically requires you to practice several times daily.     4    

How does cooking relieve stress, you might be wondering?     5     If you're organized enough to cook meals in advance, you end the weeknight dilemma of “what's for dinner?”. Furthermore, as you get better at cooking, you will spare the need to order food.

A．Cooking helps kids develop many hobbies.

B．Actually, cooking can bring more benefits.

C．The act itself can be calming to some people.

D．From a financial aspect, cooking cannot be beaten.

E．You can save money as well as improve your mental health.

F．If improving health is your main reason for cooking, you're not alone.

G．You're likely to improve your cooking skills and they will stick with you for life.