1 . More than 360 million years ago, during the Devonian (泥盆纪) period, life was flourishing in spectacular fashion. As fish and invertebrates populated the seas, the first trees emerged on land. But by the end of the Devonian, more than half of all Earth’s species had disappeared in a series of mass extinctions. New research shows how tree evolution could have contributed to these extinction events.

As land plants diversified, “they started to grow more complex root systems that were able to reach farther down to grab water,” says U. S. Naval Academy oceanographer Mathew Smart, lead author of the new study in the Geological Society of American Bulletin. Deep tree roots drew crucial minerals such as phosphorus (磷) out of the bedrock and then eventually decayed, forming mineral-rich soil. Periodically, large quantities of this soil were washed into the seas and lakes-where the sudden phosphorus inflow caused harmful algal blooms (藻华) that pulled oxygen from the waters below. Then came a series of large-scale extinctions.

The researchers tracked this deadly pattern in five prehistoric lake beds in Scotland and Greenland. They measured a gradual phosphorus decrease in sediment layers from the middle to late Devonian, accompanied by sudden increase of the mineral with evidence of corresponding oxygen depletion (耗竭).

“We’ve been working on the Devonian for a long time, and we have been thinking that these cycles have occurred, but we couldn’t really explain it,” says Anne-Christine Da Silva, a sedimentologist at the University of Liège in Belgium. “This paper could bring an explanation.”

University of New Mexico planetary scientist Maya Elrick, who was also not involved in the study, says that while the oxygen depletion incidents coincided with extinctions, it is unclear how much of a role tree roots played. Phosphorus levels did gradually decrease overall as trees evolved, but she says this reduction may have already been occurring: “If it’s a trend that was happening prior, you can’t blame it on the plants.”

Next, Smart’s team plans to test its results using computer models to see whether plants on land could have caused ocean-wide oxygen depletion and corresponding extinction-analysis that could also help predict modern algal blooms’ impact.

1. What’s the main idea of paragraph 2?

A．The evolution of land plants.	B．The effect of phosphorus inflow.
C．The source of crucial minerals.	D．The process of mass extinctions.

2. What’s Anne-Christine Da Silva’s attitude towards the research finding?

A．Disapproving.

B．Favorable.

C．Doubtful.

D．Unclear.

3. Which of the following statements does Maya Elrick agree with?

A．Oxygen depletion worsened as trees evolved.

B．Tree evolution can’t necessarily reveal extinctions.

C．Plant extinction resulted from the mineral increase.

D．Phosphorus reduction occurred before tree evolution.

4. What is a suitable title for the text?

A．The Rise and Fall of the Devonian Period

B．The Role of Phosphorus in Trees’ Evolution

C．Algal Blooms Contribute to Oxygen Depletion

D．Tree Roots May Have Set Off Mass Extinctions

2 . Do you like cilantro(香菜)? Cilantro is a common food that people tend to either adore or abuse.     1     But the reasons behind what you like and don’t like are not always so straightforward.

    2     Your sense of smell allows you to distinguish between something like strawberry and cherry. Scientists looked at olfactory (receptors and discovered that individuals with a certain gene. OR6A2, are more sensitive to smelling cilantro. That, in turn, affects how people sense its flavor.     3     When you’re open to these foods, you learn to like what you eat. Even people who hate cilantro may be able to learn to at least tolerate it, if not like it.

Culture plays a big role in what you like, too. Food preferences vary across cultures. When it comes down to food preferences in different parts of the world, it has a lot to do with what’s available and considered a food staple (主食).    4    But there will always be exceptions-a Greek person who can’t stand olives or a Dutch person who hates cheese.

While preferences can be formed after a few attempts, negative experiences with foods, especially when you’re young, can have a lasting effect.     5     Jasmine Robinson, 29, from Athens, shared her story about olives. When she was young, another child, who wouldn’t let her have a turn on a swing, made fun of her while eating olives from a jar and being mean. She later tried olives as an adult but failed.

A．We like sweet and hate bitter.

B．Love it or hate it is pretty clear.

C．But your biology is not everything.

D．It is related to familiarity and not biology.

E．Your preference can come down to genetics.

F．Associations can make you like or not like something.

G．Just one bad experience can turn you off from something for life.

3 . Every day, there are 25,000 flights in America. Accidents are so rare that flying is much ________ than car travel. But that doesn’t stop many people from feeling ________ when they are moving at 500 miles per hour, 33,000 feet above the ground.

That’s what ________ recently to a woman flying on a commercial airline. Floyd Dean-Shannon ________ the woman’s distress. As a flight attendant, he has plenty to do during a flight. But he paused and spoke ________ to the woman. Floyd calmly explained what the ________ was and all the other perfectly routine sounds you hear as a plane flies.

________ the woman began to calm down a bit, Floyd sat down in the aisle beside her and held her hand. He sat with her through the ________ flight. When Floyd learned it was another passenger’s birthday, he led the plane in a song to ________ — another way of making the woman feel safe by ________ her from her fears. He stayed by the woman’s side until it was time to land.

In a world where most focus on what’s happening on a screen, we can ________ occasionally and check on those ________ us. Like Floyd, we can be ________ enough to see to be there. We don’t have to be professional counselors; we just need to be ________. Having a friend when you most need it not only gets you through the ________ parts in your life — it also gives you the confidence to be a friend to others.

1.

A．cheaper

B．faster

C．safer

D．closer

2.

A．doubtful

B．panicked

C．curious

D．depressed

3.

A．happened

B．appealed

C．applied

D．mattered

4.

A．handled

B．removed

C．noticed

D．predicted

5.

A．casually

B．cautiously

C．frankly

D．reassuringly

6.

A．noise

B．equipment

C．situation

D．call

7.

A．Unless

B．Because

C．Until

D．As

8.

A．particular

B．entire

C．final

D．usual

9.

A．relax

B．celebrate

C．remember

D．learn

10.

A．protecting

B．discouraging

C．saving

D．distracting

11.

A．look up

B．take off

C．break in

D．stand out

12.

A．against

B．behind

C．around

D．like

13.

A．brave

B．confident

C．open

D．grateful

14.

A．attendants

B．neighbors

C．passengers

D．friends

15.

A．unknown

B．rough

C．special

D．busy

4 . Dr Tamara Scully, a psychologist who works with children, young people and adults, shares how grandparents can help children’s well-being.

It is difficult to search for the answer to the main mental health challenges facing children. Over the past two years, there has been an increase in child and adolescent mental health difficulties. In particular, there has been a significant increase in anxiety and eating disorders, both of which are the consequence of the COVID-19. Young people are also reporting a much higher level of solitude (孤独), which may arise from spending too much time on cellphones, televisions and computers.

All these will deeply affect how they behave in their daily life. And it’s absolutely normal for young people to move up and down the mental health curve (曲线). “We get concerned when we notice big changes in their behavior that don’t pass in a few weeks. For example, grandchildren stop meeting friends, stay in their bedroom or lose interest in things they used to enjoy.”

So what role can grandparents play in ensuring their grandchildren’s well-being? According to Scully, the most important thing grandparents can offer is simply themselves, just being there, listening and accepting. There’s a lovely saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Relationships are the biggest predictors of happiness and success throughout the whole life. Strong positive relationships build resilience (抗逆力) in our young people.

Grandparents should also be present and give their time. They can give their time directly to their grandchildren and to their own children. A parent who is allowed time to refuel will show up as a better parent. They can help their grandchildren by being on their team and sitting with them when times are tough. All children benefit from something called relational wealth and this is a grandparent’s most important contribution to the growth of their younger generations.

1. Why do young people suffer from increasing loneliness?

A．They have less non-screen time.

B．They prefer enjoying various take-out.

C．They fail to conquer emotional disorders.

D．They concentrate more on ups than downs.

2. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Children should form great resilience.

B．Children should learn to predict their success.

C．Children should be brought up by all villagers.

D．Children should grow up in a harmonious relationship.

3. What is the attitude of Scully toward listening to grandchildren?

A．Disapproved.	B．Favorable.
C．Tolerant.	D．Skeptical.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．How to accept the youth of today.	B．How to be a qualified grandparent.
C．How to help grandchildren’s welfare.	D．How to tackle the mental health challenges.

5 . A fourth color might be added to traffic lights to better realize the potential of self-driving vehicles, as stated in a recent paper by researchers at North Carolina State University in the US.

Autonomous vehicles can do more than just drive-they are able to sense their surroundings and upload information. A shared network gives orders to stop at a crossing based on traffic conditions.

The added white lights would be used to signal to human drivers that autonomous vehicles are managing the upcoming traffic flow intelligently. Drivers don’t have to check the traditional lights if the white one is on. “The white lights will tell human drivers to simply follow the car in front of them,” one of the study authors Ali Hajbabaie told the university’s website.

Simulated (模拟的) models showed that autonomous vehicles were able to improve traffic flow on their own. Introducing the white light also has a positive effect on reducing fuel consumption. The higher the percentage of autonomous vehicles at a crossing, the faster the traffic moves, reducing about 40 to 99 percent of the total delay time.

What kind of infrastructure (基础设施) is needed as self-driving technology thrives? In an interview with China Surveying and Mapping magazine, Liu Jingnan at the Chinese Academy of Engineering shared his answers.

To begin with, the vehicle’s network that collects data about the environment and shares the data with other vehicles needs to be intelligent. High-precision maps are needed for autonomous vehicles to plan routes in detail. They can provide both updated information on traditional maps and real-time changes, such as accidents.

For example, when driving around a curve, the navigation (导航) system in the vehicle needs to calculate the safe speed based on the map’s information. And if the area is foggy, the network has to alarm the other cars to slow down.

Other elements on the road need to be upgraded too. For example, road markings should be precise and readable for machines. Sensors should be built on sidewalks and roads to allow vehicles to predict potentially dangerous situations.

1. What is the purpose of adding a white light to traffic lights?

A．To signal to self-driving cars when to stop.

B．To help driverless cars assess traffic conditions.

C．To tell human drivers to go after the cars in front.

D．To signal to human drivers to pass the cars ahead.

2. According to the article, what effect would the introduction of self-driving cars bring about?

A．Increased road safety.	B．Reduced fuel efficiency.
C．Less time stuck in traffic.	D．Unpredictable traffic patterns.

3. What is a function of high-precision maps in self-driving technology?

A．To calculate a safe speed for vehicles.	B．To provide real-time weather updates.
C．To plan routes for autonomous vehicles.	D．To offer real-time data on road conditions.

4. What does the author intend to prove in the second-to-last paragraph?

A．The advantages of autonomous vehicles.

B．The role of the navigation system in self-driving cars.

C．The application of the infrastructure in self-driving cars.

D．The efficiency of self-driving cars handling emergencies.

6 . Four of the best off-grid (不入网的) stays in the UK

Shepherds’ Retreat

Granite peaks, vivid green fields and speeding clouds are your only neighbours at this remote cottage in the Sperrins. Glass doors open straight on to this landscape, and though there’s no phone reception or wifi, there’s a TV with DVDs, and plenty of books to enjoy by the fire. There are stone circles and mountain bike trails (小路) nearby.

Laggan Cottage

On the Ardnish peninsula (半岛) and accessible only by boat—or a three-hour hike—this comfortable off-grid pad is seriously isolated (偏僻的). There’s zero mobile signal and no TV. Paraffin lamps, wood-burning stoves for hot water and a Calor gas cooker are the only modern conveniences you get. It is perfect for a week of watching the wildlife, hiking, and swimming.

The Straw Cottage

Candles and lanterns, gas lamps and solar lights create atmosphere at this straw-bale cottage, constructed using centuries-old methods. With no electricity or wifi, this home set on Ty Gwyn Farm offers true escapism. Young explorers can play in the stream, follow a treasure hunt and toast marshmallows by the fire. Dogs are welcome, too.

East Lodge

Other than the lack of wifi, East Lodge is a perfectly contemporary cottage. Arch windows accompany modern conveniences including a TV and DVDs for movie nights, though you may prefer to switch off and focus on outdoor fun, biking on nature trails and watching the wildlife.

1. What might attract travelers to the four holiday destinations?

A．Stylish decoration.	B．Convenient location.
C．Back-to-nature stays.	D．Modern conveniences.

2. What can visitors do in Laggan Cottage and East Lodge?

A．Play games.	B．Swim in the sea.
C．Read by the fire.	D．Watch the wildlife.

3. Which cottage is pet-friendly?

A．Shepherds’ Retreat.	B．Laggan Cottage.
C．The Straw Cottage.	D．East Lodge.

7 . Ken Campbell had last attempted running at high school. When his wife, Susan, injured her foot, she needed support to rejoin her running group, so Campbell went along to keep her company and share in the recovery. “We were just walking at the beginning,” he says. “And I was heavy. I weighed over 90kg.” But as the weeks and months passed, the weight fell away, Susan recovered — and Campbell’s abilities grew. At the age of 63, he ran 50km, and at 70, he ran through the night to complete a 100km ultramarathon.

So how does someone with no sporting precedent (先例) become an ultradistance runner in his 60s and 70s? Susan had run marathons before her injury. But for Campbell, the turning point came when Susan’s Fleet Feet running group took to the trails in the Sierra Nevada foothills near their home in Citrus Heights, California.

Campbell went out to visit Susan’s group, and “the trails were a terrible mess. It had been raining. And I was running in my road shoes. Slipping and sliding and falling. And I was struggling. I thought, well, I like this a lot but I could do better.”

What he liked above all was the feeling of “being enveloped by the trail, being embraced by the closeness of the vegetation and the nearness of the river. I was walking where Native people had walked for thousands of years and where miners had walked on their way to gold.”

Running the 100km ultramarathon took Campbell 16 hours. When Campbell crossed the finish line at 3am, Susan handed him a 100km sticker to display on the back of his truck. He already had a 50km one on there. “It is a public proclamation (声明) that you are part of this community,” he says. “Wherever we park, I see a line of vehicles with their various stickers and I feel that we area tribe (部落).”

Campbell suffered arthritis before he started running, and is “a candidate for knee replacement”. But for now, he is holding off on surgery. It could put an end to the running — but the “sense of wellbeing and accomplishment will carry me on forever”, he says. “If I can’t run, I will walk.”

1. What enabled Campbell to take up running again?

A．He lost weight.	B．He trained overnight.
C．His wife accompanied him.	D．His wife shared her experience.

2. What did Campbell discover while keeping his wife company on a tail run?

A．The joy of being out in the wild.	B．The hardships of Native people.
C．The pleasure of gold mining.	D．The mysteries of nature.

3. What did the stickers on the back of Campbell’s truck bring him?

A．A discount on parking.	B．A sense of belonging.
C．An enormous income.	D．An honour to his wife.

4. What can we learn about Campbell from the text?

A．He’s a determined man.	B．He’s a people-pleaser.
C．He is easy to content.	D．He is hard to cope with.

8 . 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。

Most of us never forget the person that was there for us in our darkest times. Apparently, penguins (企鹅) don’t either.

On a typical day, off the coast of a small Brazilian island, Joao Pereira de Souza headed out fishing. He was disheartened to find that an oil leak had polluted the waters. Staring out at the oily waves, he decided it was not a good day to fish. But walking on the beach that day, he found a struggling penguin, covered in oil and starving.

Joao took the penguin home, and spent a whole week gently cleaning it and nursing it back to health. He named it Dindim, a Portuguese word meaning “ice pop”. Dindim is a Magellanic penguin, a species known for living in the seas of South America. In order to breed (繁殖), they must return to Patagonia, 5,000 miles from Joao’s home.

After a week of rehabilitation (康复), Joao patiently took Dindim back to the sea and taught it how to swim again. When Dindim could swim quite well, Joao took it out into the sea by boat and dropped it off to encourage it to swim back to its home. But when he was back to shore, he found the penguin waiting for him. Joao made two more attempts later, but each time the bird would just return to Joao’s home. It seemed that Dindim had already formed a family bond with Joao and wouldn’t leave.

Joao had no choice but to keep the little creature. During the following months, Dindim would follow behind Joao to fish on the coast joyfully. Dindim also liked to lie on Joao’s lap, letting Joao give it showers, allowing Joao to feed it fish and to pick it up. Joao and his family enjoyed the company of Dindim. But deep inside Joao’s heart, he knew Dindim belonged to the wild. Gradually, the hot summer days witnessed the change of its new feathers. Was it time to say “goodbye”?

注意：
1. 续写词数成为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Suddenly one morning, Joao found Dindim disappeared.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A few months later, Joao heard some familiar cries in his backyard.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . 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。

Jim dreams of becoming a famous artist to help lift his family from poverty. However, an illness in the family forces Jim to give up everything he worked so hard for.

Jim used to draw skyline on the roof of the school building, with a broken piece of pencil lead he’d found in a rubbish can. His drawing was close to perfect except for some color. His family lived from hand to mouth so Jim could only rely on himself. He had to help out on the local farm after school and saved some of the money for paints.

One day Mom fell seriously ill and was rushed to hospital at once. While the rest of his family were still at the hospital waiting, Jim ran back home to get the household emergency money. But his heart sank when he saw the pitiful money. It’d never be enough to pay for Mom’s medical treatment. He ran into his bedroom and reached for his savings.

“Goodbye, paints and brushes,” Jim said as he added his to the emergency money.

One night on the way home, thinking of Mom in hospital he wanted to do something for her. He bent down beneath a streetlight and put his fingers in the dirt on the roadside. Before he knew it, he drew a portrait (肖像) of Mom.

He found red dust and mixed it with mud to add shadow, then picked up some grass and turned it into some kind of paint. He used this to add definition around Mom’s nose, eyes and hair.

When he was finished, Jim stood back up to study his work. The linework and shading were fine, but the colors…

“It’s still no good,” Jim shook his head.

“I disagree.”

Jim turned around and found a stranger standing behind him. He gave Jim a friendly smile and introduced himself as Mr. Finn.

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。
“I am an editor for an art magazine.” Mr. Finn continued.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
With the payment from the magazine, Jim could not hide his joy.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . Feeling a hug from each other via the internet may be a possibility in the near future. A research team led by City University of Hong Kong recently developed a wireless, soft e-skin that can both detect and deliver the sense of touch, and form a touch network allowing one-to-multiuser interaction. It offers great potential for improving the distance touch communication.

While there are numerous devices in the market to simulate (模拟) the sense of touch in the virtual world, they provide only touch sensing or touch response. The uniqueness of the novel e-skin is that it can perform self-sensing and touch reproducing functions on the same interface.

The e-skin is a 7cm×l0cm, 4.2mm-thick device containing 16 flexible actuators (驱动器), a microcontroller unit, a Bluetooth module, and other electronics on a flexible circuit board. The actuator serves as the core part of the e-skin. Once the actuator is pressed and released by a force, a current is produced to provide electrical signals that are turned into digital signals by a converter (转换器) and then sent to another e-skin via Bluetooth. When the signals are received, a current is caused to reproduce the touch response on the receiver’s e-skin through mechanical vibration (振动). The process can be reversed to deliver vibrations from the receiver’s e-skin to the corresponding actuator of the sender’s.

The e-skin can communicate with Bluetooth devices and send data through the internet with smartphones and computers to perform long-distance touch, and to form a touch Internet of Things (IoT) system, where one-to-one and one-to-multiple touch delivery could be realized. Friends and family in different places could use it to “feel” each other. This form of touch overcomes the limitations of space and greatly reduces the sense of distance in human communication.

Next, the research team will focus on practical applications for people with visual disability, who could wear the e-skin to gain remote directional guidance and read Braille messages.

1. What is the unique feature of the e-skin?

A．It provides hugs for users.

B．It builds a social network.

C．It provides touch sensing and copying,

D．It monitors the process of self-sensing.

2. What does the underlined word “reversed” mean?

A．Started.

B．Disturbed.

C．Completed.

D．Exchanged.

3. What can we learn about e-skin?

A．It strengthens bonds across distance.

B．Its converter vibrates when working.

C．It sends electrical signals to receivers.

D．Its system delivers touch with phones.

4. What would be the best title of the text?

A．A signal-sending application

B．An invention for the disabled

C．A device for virtual interaction

D．A long distance communication