1 . New research led by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has revealed that the spiny pollen (带刺花粉) of plants in the sunflower family can reduce infection of a common bee parasite (寄生生物) by up to 94 percent. The sunflowers'spiny pollen can destroy a parasite called C. bombi (熊蜂短膜虫), which has been significantly reducing bumblebee populations.

To investigate how sunflowers help bumblebees resist C. bombi, the researchers separated the spiny outer shell of the pollen from the chemical metabolites (代谢物) in the pollen’s core. They then mixed the spiny pollen shells of sunflowers, with the chemistry removed, into the pollen fed to one group of bees.

Another group was fed wildflower pollen with sunflower metabolites and no sunflower shells. The researchers discovered that the bees that ate the spiny sunflower pollen shells had the same response as bees feeding on whole sunflower pollen. These bees had a markedly reduced risk of C. bombi infection compared to those fed sunflower metabolites.

Bumblebees, which are vital pollinators of crops and wildflowers, are experiencing a rapid decline in their populations worldwide. Habitat loss due to urbanization and agricultural intensification is the greatest threat to bumblebees. Climate change is also taking a toll on bumblebees. As temperatures rise, bumblebees are forced to move further north to cooler climates, which can affect their ability to find food and nesting sites. Pesticide use is another significant threat to bumblebees. These chemicals are harmful to them and can damage their navigation and immune systems, leading to reduced reproductive success. Bumblebees play a vital role in maintaining healthy and diverse ecosystems. Understanding how sunflowers protect bees from disease could help us identify other flowers that have similar protective properties. Through this, researchers can work towards developing new strategies to help conserve bumblebees.

1. How does the spiny pollen of sunflowers benefit bees?

A．It protects them from predators.	B．It improves their sense of smell.
C．It can be used for their nest building.	D．It helps them resist parasite infections.

2. How did researchers explore the function of spiny pollen shells?

A．By collecting data.	B．By making comparisons.
C．By referring to previous studies.	D．By surveying experienced farmers.

3. What is the biggest threat to the survival of bumblebees?

A．Habitat loss.

B．Climate change.

C．The use of pesticides.

D．Environmental pollution.

4. What is the significance of the study?

A．It offers a way to increase sunflower yield.

B．It draws public attention to the role of ecosystems.

C．It provides a new idea for protecting bumblebees.

D．It allows people to distinguish between different plants species.

2 . Dogs and humans clearly have a special bond. But do dogs, like humans, produce more tears at times when they are flooded with emotion? A new study, which may be the first to look at this question, says that, indeed, the eyes of dogs do well up with tears. In fact, it happens regularly when they’re reunited (团聚) with the owners.

“We found that dogs produce tears associated with positive emotions,” says Takefumi Kikusui of Azabu University in Japan. “We also made the discovery of a chemical, oxytocin, as a possible mechanism (机制) behind it.”

Kikusui and his colleagues made the discovery after one of his two dogs had babies 6 years ago. He noticed that, when his dog was nursing the babies, something changed in the dog’s face — there were tears. Those tears don’t fall as they often do in humans but they do get teary eyes. “That gave me the idea that oxytocin is likely to increase tears,” Kikusui says.

They decided to run a reunification experiment and see if oxytocin brought dogs to tears. First, they used a standard test to measure dogs’ tear volume (量) before and after reuniting with their owners. They found that tear volume indeed ascended when they got back together with the familiar human and not with a person they didn’t know. When they added oxytocin to the dogs’ eyes, their tear volume also increased. That finding supports the idea that the release of oxytocin plays a role in tear production when dogs and their owners get back together. They also asked people to rate pictures of dogs’ faces with and without artificial tears in them, and it turned out that people gave more positive responses when they saw dogs with teary eyes. These findings suggest that dogs’ tear production helps to develop stronger connections between people and their dogs.

Kikusui says they had never heard of the discovery that animals produce tears in joyful situations, such as reuniting with their owners, and that they were all excited that this would be a world first!

1. What’s the author’s purpose in raising the question in the first paragraph?

A．To compare different ideas.

B．To express his personal doubt.

C．To lead in the topic for discussion.

D．To introduce the rich emotions of dogs.

2. What made Kikusui think oxytocin might increase tears?

A．A lesson at university.	B．An experience of his own.
C．The interaction with a dog.	D．A reminder from his colleagues.

3. The underlined word “ascended” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．remained unchanged	B．rose
C．became zero	D．decreased

4. In Kikusui’s opinion, the experiment’s findings ________.

A．came as a big surprise	B．required further evidence
C．were within their expectation	D．were contrary to previous ones

3 . As a photographer, have you thought about entering photo competitions? Which photo competition should you enter? If you’ve found yourself asking the questions, you’re in the right place. This article will induce some of the most famous photo competitions to you.

World Press Photo Awards   

If you want to test your photojournalism (摄影新闻报道) skills against other more than one competition, consider joining the World Press Photo Awards. The competition has been hosted each year since 1955 and there are regional and overall winners.

Deadline: January

Entry Fees: Free

Prizes: Regional winners: €1,000.   Global winners: € 6,000.

Istanbul Photo Awards

The Istanbul Photo Awards is hosted each year by Anadolu Agency, Turkey. But you don’t need to have a base in Istanbul to enter the competition.

You can apply for several categories, including single news, story news, and categories ranging from sports to nature. The competition is organized mainly for news photographers.

Deadline: February

Entry Fees: Free

Prizes: Category winner: $ 3,000. Runners-up (亚军):$1,500. Third-placed: $1,000.

Amateur Photographer of the Year

The Amateur Photographer of the Year award is held every year. You’ll have the opportunity to enter several rounds throughout the year, each of which has a different topic.

Deadline: Varies

Entry Fees: Free

Prizes: Winner gets £500 (each round); £1,000 for the overall winner. Second-placed get £1,000.Third-placed get £50.

Landscape Photographer of the Year

If you live in the UK and want to show your country beauty, you might want to consider entering the competition. The competition has several categories, including city life, black and white, and classic view.

Deadline: May

Entry Fees: £9.99

Prizes: Winner: £10,000 and a book. Category winners: £1,000 and a book. Category runners-up: a book.

1. Which competition can a photographer enter several times in a year?

A．Istanbul Photo Awards.	B．World Press Photo Awards.
C．Amateur Photographer of the Year.	D．Landscape Photographer of the Year.

2. What do World Press Photo Awards and Istanbul Photo Awards have in common?

A．They require entry fees.

B．They set three levels of prizes.

C．They are hosted in the same month each year.

D．They are mainly held for news photographers.

3. A category winner who enters Landscape Photographer of the Year can get

A．€2,000

B．€1,000

C．€3,000

D．€10,000

4 . 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。

Pan Junfan, a one-legged man from East China’s Wenling City, sets a new world record in an extreme hiking competition through the Gobi Desert in Northwest China’s Gansu Province.

The 40-year-old     1     (lose) the lower part of his right leg in a traffic accident in 2015,     2    was a turning point in his life. He said although the accident was a terrible experience, it turned him into a     3     (total) different person, a tougher man.

    4     (inspire) by a video of extreme hiking, he set up a goal for himself — to complete an extreme hiking race one year later in the Gobi Desert. Intensive training helped him gradually adapt     5    the fast walking and running. In 2016, he took part in an extreme hiking competition and became     6     first amputee (被截肢者) to complete the entire journey. “I hope that by completing the challenge I can inspire people and tell them that life has limitless possibilities and not to stop     7     (try) something different,” Pan says. Since then, he has gone on to break multiple world    8     (record) as an amputee in extreme hiking. His     9     (determine) has encouraged many people in the whole world     10     (find) opportunity in difficulty.

5 . Ways to maintain a long-distance friendship.

Long-distance friendship is a friendship between two people who live quite far apart-far enough that they don’t see each other on a regular basis.     1     . Here are some ways to keep a long-distance friendship going strong.

Stay in touch.

Social media provide many ways for us to stay in touch with our beloved ones.     2     Sharing photos with your friends makes them feel that you are still part of each other’s daily life, especially if it is a picture that you took for them.

    3    

Showing friends that you care about them doesn’t need expensive goods, lots of money or hours of planning. Something plain, like a card or a small gift, can mean a lot more to them than you may think. A little extra effort on your end could make their entire day.

Remain reliable.

Even though you can’t bring them ice cream and a copy of their favorite movie after they’ve had a bad day.     4    

Visit them when possible.

Try to find an appointed time when both of you can meet and catch up as regularly as you can, whether it’s visiting each other in new homes or planning a weekend away.

Remember important dates

Anniversaries and birthdays carry weight. Although technology might make day-to-day communication possible, on special occasions, extra effort goes a long way. Sending a birthday card remains a popular way to send a birthday greeting.     5    

Remember even if you’re not living next to your friends any more, it doesn’t mean your friendship has to end. Take time and effort to maintain it.

A．Starting a group chat is a great way to share your updates.

B．Let them know they can talk to you at any time will comfort them when they’re upset.

C．Buy something expensive for them,

D．The best way to maintain long-distance friendship is to arrange time for them whenever where you are or whatever you are doing.

E．Show thoughtfulness in little ways

F．So a lot of effort is required to maintain it.

G．Simply keeping a diary that records friends’ birthdays and other important dates will enable you not to miss those precious moments.

6 . The effect of climate change extends beyond ruining Earth’s environment and our physical safety. A report published this week suggests that climate change has a negative effect on our mental health, too.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States(PNAS), links an increase in monthly temperatures to a rise in mental health issues. The experimental evidence stems from meteorological (气象的) data paired with information collected from nearly 2 million randomly sampled residents in the United States. The data was collected over the span (跨度) of a decade.

“We find that experiences with hotter temperatures and added rainfall each worsen mental health, that long-lasting warming associates with an increased popularity of mental health issues, and that exposure to tropical cyclones(热带气旋), likely to increase in frequency in the future, is linked to worsened mental health,” authors of the study stated. “These results provide added large-scale evidence to the growing link between climate change and mental health.”

The report specifically focused on mental health outcomes due to the effects of environmental stress - such as temperature, rainfall, and tropical cyclones - but other climate change-related issues are likely to affect mental health as well - specifically, the stress and anxiety of knowing natural disasters could be more frequent as temperatures rise.

1. From the newly-published report, we learn that the climate change may _________.

A．save a lot of people’s lives

B．cause unbelievable disasters

C．influence people’s mental health

D．greatly change people’s life styles

2. Why did the author mention “the span of a decade” in Paragraph 2?

A．To stress the importance of the study.

B．To show that the study cost too much money.

C．To explain the difficulties and hardships of the study.

D．to indicate that the study is objective and believable.

3. Where can we find some specific results of the study?

A．In Paragraph 1	B．In Paragraph 2
C．In Paragraph 3	D．In Paragraph 4

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The study has its limits.

B．The results of the study aren’t satisfactory.

C．The environmental problems can’t be solved.

D．Mental health is determined by climate change.

7 . I used to be extremely shy, so I wasn’t good at meeting new people. I was_______I’d do or say something wrong, so usually I just smiled and listened to other people’s_______. My teacher Mrs. Smith always_______me to communicate with others.

One day, she_______that our class was going to perform a play she’d written. “I_______someone to play the lead role. Anybody want to try?” she said. A few_______hands shot up—mine wasn’t one of them. Mrs. Smith walked up to me and said, “I think you’re_______for it. But you didn’t _______your hand when I asked who was interested in the part.”

Me, the lead? Was she_______? Mrs. Smith continued, “I had been in consideration of you for the role while writing the play! If you really don’t want to, though, I won’t force you. You’re your                           ________.” Suddenly, I realized it was time to________my shyness and show the world who I really was. I looked Mrs. Smith right in her eyes and said________, “OK, I’ll try.”

After five months of practicing, I was________nervous when the big day arrived My knees________. My heart beat like I’d just run a mile. “It doesn’t matter how you do tonight,” said Mrs. Smith, as if reading my________when she came backstage for a final________ “You’ve already shown yourself how wonderful you’re. That’s the most________thing.”

I smiled because I knew she was right. I proved I could take chances, be daring (大胆的), and have fun doing it! At the end of the play, when the audience stood and________, I knew they were not just ________for my performance that night, but for the performances they knew would come in later years because of my newly-found________.

1.

A．certain

B．afraid

C．ashamed

D．doubtful

2.

A．arguments

B．comments

C．analyses

D．conversations

3.

A．encouraged

B．attracted

C．forced

D．challenged

4.

A．realized

B．intended

C．announced

D．concluded

5.

A．advise

B．remind

C．appoint

D．need

6.

A．amused

B．excited

C．relaxed

D．satisfied

7.

A．perfect

B．responsible

C．famous

D．concerned

8.

A．wave

B．hang

C．show

D．raise

9.

A．strict

B．reliable

C．crazy

D．sensitive

10.

A．choice

B．duty

C．award

D．honor

11.

A．end with

B．make out

C．throw away

D．see through

12.

A．slowly

B．firmly

C．softly

D．warmly

13.

A．still

B．never

C．always

D．hardly

14.

A．bent

B．froze

C．broke

D．shook

15.

A．opinions

B．expressions

C．thoughts

D．impressions

16.

A．check

B．test

C．motivation

D．promotion

17.

A．interesting

B．important

C．personal

D．intelligent

18.

A．greeted

B．withdrew

C．whispered

D．applauded

19.

A．waiting

B．cheering

C．thanking

D．applying

20.

A．pride

B．dignity

C．confidence

D．achievement

8 . Chaplin was one of the famous clown-style actors of the silent time. It was through Charlie Chaplin that the Hollywood comedy movies became famous.

Then in the 1920s came another trend of animated cartoons. They were the most popular Hollywood comedy movies of the time. The several popular characters of that era were Felix the cat, Krazy Kat and Betty Boop. However, the popularity of these movies was blocked out due to lack of sound and color. The end of 1920s, the Hollywood comedy industry marked a change brought about by the introduction of sound into the movies. This has allowed the industry to create dramatic new film styles and use verbal humor. These films were soon replacing silent movies. These films used dialogue of comedians such as the W. C Fields and the Marx Brothers. Charlie Chaplin was the last comedian to have acted in the silent films.

When the United States entered into World War ll, Hollywood movies changed its course to themes related to the conflicts, and Hollywood comedy movies described more on military themes. The war time experienced a boom, where restrictions on the traveling made nearly a quarter of the money spent on attending movies.

In the 1950s, the interest shifted where the TV became popular. During this time the release of Hollywood comedy films declined(衰落). The 1960s saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies. In 1970 Hollywood comedy movies reflected the anti-war sentiment, which was popular then.

In the 1980s the gag(笑料)based comedy Airplane was released, and Hollywood comedy movies paved its way for more of the same. The popular comedians of this time included Dudley－Moore, Tom Hanks, etc. Jim Carrey, the Canadian actor and a comedian, came into Hollywood comedy movies in the late 1980s where he won the role in such a comedy, Copper Mountain.The most popular Hollywood comedy movies were of John Hughes, which includes Ferris Buellers Day Off and Home Alone series of 1990s. The later films focused more on family audience. This was a revival in comedy movies. Comedy movies remain popular till date.

1. Why did Hollywood movies grow rapidly during World War ll?

A．People had more money at that time.

B．The government spent a lot of money on films

C．.People couldn’t travel freely.

D．People were made to see movies by the government.

2. The theme of the 1970s Hollywood comedies is________.

A．protests against wars

B．domestic violence

C．oversea military activities

D．desire for freedom

3. What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．Outstanding comedies made in Hollywood.

B．Famous comedians in Hollywood history.

C．Chaplin’s contribution to comedies.

D．Development of Hollywood comedy movies.

4. Which of the following shows the correct order of what happened to the Hollywood comedy movies?
a. Hollywood comedy movies focused on family audience.
b. Fewer and fewer Hollywood comedy films were released.
c. Animated cartoons of Hollywood comedy movies were popular.
d. Hollywood comedy movies once developed quickly during the war time.
e. The Hollywood comedy industry made a reform of applying sound to the movies.

A．cedba

B．decab

C．dabec

D．ecbda

9 . Dr. Harvey Gates, the noted scientist, might never have discovered the Kamron lizard (蜥蜴) in Blovia, if it had not been for a childhood accident. As a boy, he decided to become a baseball player, but when he broke his arm in practice at the age of fourteen and was forced to stay off the playing field for a while, he took notice of the natural world around him and liked what he saw.

After he had recovered from his injury, he caught a squirrel (松鼠) and raised it as a pet. Soon he was bringing home snakes and other creatures from the woods near his school.

In 1962, he entered Blakeford College and majored in biology. By 1966 he had received his Bachelor (学士) of Science degree and two years later at Drysdale University, he received his Doctor of Science degree. It was while he was doing field research for his doctoral studies in South America in 1967 that he discovered and named the Kamron lizard. This animal was different from others of its kind in that it had only four toes on its front feet. In other respects, it was similar to others of the same family. It could change its color and go for long periods without food.

1. Of the four statements, which one best indicates (表明) the author’s idea?

A．Dr. Gates is a scientist who can always attract the public attention to his research.

B．Dr. Gates is a very famous scientist, though he wanted to be a sportsman at first.

C．Dr. Gates is a scientist who always carries a notebook with him wherever he goes.

D．Dr. Gates is very popular for his determination to become a baseball player.

2. In the first paragraph of the passage, the phrase “in practice” means “________”

A．while doing some practical work

B．while studying animals

C．while making up his mind to become a baseball player

D．while playing baseball

3. In the second paragraph, the word “creatures” can best be replaced by “________”.

A．people

B．animals

C．things

D．living things

4. It was ________ that Dr. Gates discovered the Kamron lizard.

A．after he had graduated from Drysdale University

B．right after he had finished his study for the doctor’s degree

C．after he had received his highest degree

D．during the time when he was studying for the doctor’s degree

10 . 根据汉语意思选出正确的短语
1. 偶然碰到

A．come across

B．come out

C．come up

D．come by

2. 容忍

A．put away

B．put forward

C．put up with

D．put aside

3. 挤出一条路

A．push one’s way

B．make one’s way

C．feel one’s way

D．fight one’s way

4. 穿过

A．go after

B．go against

C．go along with

D．go through

5. 撞上

A．run across

B．run into

C．run after

D．run short of

6. 令人讨厌

A．turn out

B．turn into

C．turn around

D．turn sb off

7. 诚实地说

A．to sum up

B．to be belief

C．to begin with

D．to be honest

8. 提防，留心

A．look out

B．look down on

C．look around

D．look through

9. 看管，负责

A．free of charge

B．in charge of

C．charge sb money

D．in the charge of

10. 不挂断电话

A．hang about

B．hang on

C．hang up

D．hang back

11. 在视线之外

A．in sight

B．out of sight

C．catch sight of

D．at the sight of

12. 来来回回

A．in an instant

B．be keen on

C．in vain

D．back and forth

13. 陷入困境

A．die out

B．adapt to sth

C．in command of

D．be trapped in

14. 理解

A．be related to

B．figure out

C．knock over

D．count on

15. 有意义

A．in a flash

B．make sense

C．now that

D．in particular