1 . When struggling to reach a goal, don't let limitations control you. Use them as ________ to push beyond your comfort zone. That way you'll find ________ solutions and become better familiar with your inner ________ which determines how you'll ________ barriers in life.

In the July 2016 issue of Guideposts, Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War soldier, told his story of ________ the biggest battle he ever faced. At 20, Bryan ________ the Army and was shipped out on September 11, 2001. Towards the end of the ________, he was behind the wheel of a jeep in Baghdad when a roadside bomb ________. As a result, Bryan lost his left hand and both legs. Several days later, Bryan ________ up in Maryland, at a Medical Center with his mother by his side. It was in that hospital that his mother said the words that ________ the course for the rest of his life. She said, “You have basically two ________ here, move on-or roll over and die?” He ________, “Move on.”

While in physical therapy, Bryan noticed that the patients who were making ________ were the ones who accepted their injuries and worked hard to move forward. From the start, Bryan pushed himself; he ________ to let his injury prevent him from living life. Today, Bryan lives a ________ life and is a motivational speaker. Bryan's story is a powerful reminder that we too can overcome our limitations.

1.

A．difficulties

B．opportunities

C．expectations

D．aspects

2.

A．familiar

B．imaginary

C．regular

D．creative

3.

A．strengths

B．troubles

C．feelings

D．ranges

4.

A．look into

B．take down

C．deal with

D．point out

5.

A．directing

B．experiencing

C．understanding

D．building

6.

A．joined

B．left

C．visited

D．opened

7.

A．conversation

B．competition

C．performance

D．battle

8.

A．burned

B．exposed

C．exploded

D．emptied

9.

A．took

B．woke

C．ended

D．broke

10.

A．determined

B．discouraged

C．honored

D．limited

11.

A．steps

B．chances

C．measures

D．options

12.

A．responded

B．interrupted

C．predicted

D．complained

13.

A．effort

B．fun

C．progress

D．contribution

14.

A．failed

B．refused

C．managed

D．regretted

15.

A．destroying

B．convincing

C．confusing

D．fulfilling

2 . 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。

Yuan Longping, known by the nickname “Father of Hybrid Rice”,     1     (award) the “Medal of the Republic” in 2019.

As a Chinese agronomist(农学家), he spent his whole life researching rice and developed the first hybrid rice varieties in     2     1970s. Hybrid rice varieties have yields that tend to be about 20 percent higher than     3     (that) of conventional rice, increasing rice output greatly.

Yuan was     4     (high) respected and was a household name in China,     5     rice research helped feed people in many countries suffered food shortages in the mid-20th century. Yuan and his team also worked with dozens of countries around the world     6     (address) issues of food security. Worldwide, a fifth of all rice now comes from species     7     (create) by hybrid rice following Yuan’s several breakthrough     8     (discover), according to the website of the World Food Prize. Thanks to his research, the UN has more tools in the battle to rid the world of hunger. Using his hybrid rice, farmers are producing harvests twice as large     9     before. He led a plain life and didn’t care about being famous or wealthy. Meanwhile, his inspirational words encouraged us to     10     (strength) ourselves and do our part to better the world.

3 . Archaeologists(考古学家) have recently identified the oldest known human burial in Africa during field work, which uncovered the remains of a child laid carefully to rest in a grave(墓穴) nearly 80,000 years ago.

Researchers discovered the delicate and degraded bones while excavating(挖掘) the floor at the mouth of the Panga ya Saidi cave in the tropical uplands of Kenya's coastal plain about 10 miles from the shore. The team unearthed the edge of the grave and the first pieces of bone in 2013, but the bones were so fragile that they turned to dust when the scientists tried to remove them. Over the next four years, the researchers excavated the grave from above, discovering yet more bones, but even after applying some special material, it was still too weak to recover.

The researchers decided to dig around the circular pit, roughly 40cm wide and 13cm deep, and encase the whole grave in plaster(石 膏) so it could safely be lifted from the ground. The block was taken to the National Museum in Nairobi and on to a specialist lab in Spain where the material was excavated further and then imaged with 3D X-ray equipment. The images show that the child was laid on their right side with knees tied towards the chest. The bones had not fallen apart in the grave, leading the researchers to suspect the body was wrapped tightly before burial. Dating found the bones to be about 78,000 years old, according to the study published in Nature.

Archaeologists have also found age-old human burial sites outside Africa. Human remains recovered from burials in the Skhul cave on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Israel and Qafzeh cave near Nazareth are between 90,000 and 130,000 years old.

1. What do we know about the human burial?

A．The child in the grave was casually laid.

B．The bones were easily taken from the grave.

C．Some special material was found in the grave.

D．It was confirmed to have the longest history in Africa.

2. What does the underlined word “encase” mean in the third paragraph?

A．remove.	B．take.
C．wrap.	D．decorate.

3. Why did the researchers take the grave to the lab?

A．To have further study.	B．To use 3D-X-ray equipment.
C．To preserve the burial sites.	D．To measure the bones.

4. Where does this text probably come from?

A．A technology report.	B．A recipe book.
C．A science magazine.	D．An economics paper.

4 . Recently, science has been uncovering a link between walking and a lower risk of dementia (痴呆), proving that walking is even good for your brain.     1     Maybe you already love to walk, but you’re getting tired of following your same old route day after day—or maybe you’re new to walking and aren’t sure how to get started. Either way, it’s time to embrace the idea of walking with a purpose.

To get started, sit down with a map and make a plan. Ask yourself, what do you want to get out of walking aside from the health benefits? Do you want to meet other people? See new places? Get out into the wilderness or explore a city?     2    

Making friends and socializing is your goal.     3     Ask your friends where they like to walk and go there, since this will introduce you to new places. Look up your local malls which have groups that come every day, or every weekend, to “walk the mall”. These groups are always happy to include one more walker!

    4     Ask about local hikes that get you out of town and into the wilderness or countryside. Folks who are touring in an RV or car can stop to ask about scenic spots that will get them off the beaten path.

Headed to a new city?     5     Many of our great historic cities offer detailed and well-planned walking tours. You can follow the famous painted red band through Boston’s historic landmarks or walk your way through the sites of Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.

From the benefits, walking is just plain good for you. Pick up a map and start walking.

A．It’s kind to our bodies and great for our waistlines.

B．Getting away from the crowds is what you’re after.

C．Prepare to get to know the new place from the ground up!

D．It’s also a fantastic way to get fit and to stay in great shape.

E．Call up your friends and schedule walks with them.

F．Nearly any city you can think of offers convenient transportation.

G．Knowing your priorities will help you decide on the type of walk you want to do.

5 . Turning on the air conditioning to its highest setting can bring sweet relief. But your resulting energy bill? Not so much. What if your home could stay cool all on its own—no electricity required?

That’s the prediction of Yi Zheng’s new invention. The associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern University in Boston has created a sustainable material named “cooling paper” that can be used to make buildings or other objects able to keep cool without relying on conventional (常规的) cooling systems. Not only does the light-colored material reflect hot solar rays away from the building, it also absorbs heat out of the inside, too—heat that is emitted from electronics, cooking, and human bodies.

Zheng got the idea when he looked at a bucket full of used printing paper, recalling “How could we simply transform that waste material into some functional energy material?” With the help of a high-speed blender (搅拌机) from his home kitchen, Zheng made a mixture out of paper waste, mixed with the material that makes up Teflon (聚四氟乙烯). Then he formed it into water-proof “cooling paper” that could coat homes. The cooling paper can reduce a room’s temperature by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit (6℃).

The cooling paper isn’t just co-friendly in its ability to reduce your energy footprint, but also recyclable. The material can be used, exposed to solar radiation, weather, and varying temperatures, then reduced to a mixture again and reformed without losing a bit of its cooling properties. Zheng says. “We thought there would be maybe 10 percent, 20 percent of loss, but no.”

Zheng doesn’t just aim to reduce your energy bills through his research. He also hopes that his work will help fight against climate change. “The starting point is to reduce the use of carbon-based materials and also to reduce global warming,” Zheng says.

1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The prediction of the new invention.

B．The function of the new material.

C．The difference of the new invention.

D．The creation of the cooling paper.

2. Which of the following best describes Zheng’s idea?

A．Boring.	B．Demanding.
C．Creative.	D．Unrealistic.

3. What’s the biggest advantage about cooling paper?

A．It could keep the room cool without electricity.

B．It is based on traditional system.

C．It can barely take in the heat on its own.

D．It can not resist water.

4. From the last two paragraphs, we know the cooling paper         .

A．can predict the weather

B．greatly affects climate change

C．has replaced conventional material

D．is promising in environmental protection

6 . On May 9, 2016, biologist Chris Kelly saw a lone bat on a bridge crossing the French Broad River outside Asheville, North Carolina. Five years later, everything wildlife biologists thought they knew about endangered gray bats in this corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains has been changed.

Kelly, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, was on the bridge doing bird work. Bats aren't her area of expertness, so she reached out to the state's bat experts. Joey Weber, a technician who was working for the Commission, arrived at the bridge later that day and found 19 big brown bats inhabiting in the expansion joints. But he heard many more.

That night, Weber was joined by Katherine Etchison, the Commission's bat biologist, for an emergence count. They counted 240, but a busy schedule meant the team couldn't return for a second emergence count until July 18. “I was very eager to get back out there because I really thought there would be something besides big brown bats. I was thinking Mexican free-tailed bats, which would be a first for Buncombe County, and I was right but that wasn't the big news,” said Etchison.

The second emergence count recorded 1,000 bats. To learn which species used the bridge, biologists recorded the ultrasonic(超声的) sounds made by emerging bats, which are species-specific. Later that night, Etchison rolled through the recorded calls, displayed vividly on her computer, and the suspected Mexican free-tailed bats showed up. But, so too did something very unexpected.

She immediately texted Susan Cameron, an Asheville-based biologist. Along with big brown and Mexican free-tailed bats, the computer identified the calls of endangered gray bats. The discovery was confirmed the next day when Etchison, Weber, and Cameron visited the bridge at dusk-just before bat emergence-and carefully captured a bat from one of the expansion, joints. The 2016 discoveries marked the first time gray bats were known to inhabit in North Carolina.

1. How did Kelly find the bat on the bridge?

A．Accidentally.	B．Professionally.
C．Purposefully.	D．Skillfully.

2. What does the underlined phrase “the big news” refer to in the third paragraph?

A．That a big brown bat was identified.

B．That Mexican free-tailed bats showed up.

C．That the discovery of gray bats was confirmed.

D．That 1000 bats were recorded.

3. How did biologists recognize the species of the bats?

A．By emergence counting.

B．By recording specific sound.

C．By capturing the bats.

D．By looking through the computer.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．An Endangered Bat Discovery	B．A Biology Research
C．The Emergence of Bat	D．The Way of Finding Endangered Bats

7 . Palawan is a must for the global traveller, with its charming scenery, untouched rainforests and world-class resorts(度假胜地). Palawan’s beaches simply have no equal, and there are scores of islands for the travelers to explore.

Diving

Divers troop to Palawan, which lies at the very heart of the Coral Triangle biodiversity corridor(走廊). The highlight is Tubbataha Reefs National Park, which is accessible only by live-aboard boat from late March to mid-June.

Island hopping

Top of most visitors’ lists is boarding a trusty speed boat and setting off to explore Palawan’s 1780 islands. Why not take a multiday journey, camping on remote islands under the stars, far removed from other tourists?

Beaches

The best part about Palawan’s glorious beaches? Only a few are known to the masses. The rest are yours for the taking. EI Nido has a seemingly endless supply of sandy sights. North of EI Nido, a rough road leads to Nacpan Beach. Way up north, the Calamian Islands are often ringed 360-degrees by blindingly white sand.

Jungle adventures

Close to 50% of Palawan’s old-growth forest cover remains untouched, by far the most among Philippine provinces. Naturalists can explore the rainforests in search of animals and birdwatchers migrate from around the globe to spot unusual bird species. Additionally, determined hikers can scale numerous peaks.

Palawan has always had a responsible attitude towards its environment. Against the destruction of coastal ecosystems and illegal logging and fishing, several award-wining resorts are leading the way toward a more sustainable future, mixing native design and low-carbon elements to create living spaces that will last. Ecotourism will play a role in determining the future of the islands.

1. What can a tourist enjoy in Palawan?

A．Watching the migration of birds in the rainforests.

B．Visiting Tubbataha Reefs National Park in July.

C．Getting exposed to all the beaches.

D．Exploring the faraway islands.

2. Who may have less interest in Palawan?

A．Climbers.	B．Skiers.
C．Biologists.	D．Divers.

3. What should the local people do to maintain its continuous business?

A．Forbid fishing.	B．Protect ecosystems.
C．Log illegally.	D．Ignore the concept of low-carbon life.

8 . It’s never too late to achieve your goals. After more than half a century since his last class at the University of Cincinnati, Paul Blom, aged 94，________ alongside other students at the university’s official graduation ceremony (典礼) in June, where he ________ an associate’s degree.

Blom first ________ the university in 1946, after returning home from three years’ ________ in the Navy. Then he began to help with the family managing ________ while taking night classes at the university for the next nine years. “How time ________,” he said. “I think I only lacked maybe two courses for some ________ or another.”

Back in May, Blom’s daughter, Paula Baxter, reached out to UC to ________ if her father could receive a ________ degree and the university found that it could offer him much more. After ________ that Blom received more than enough ________ for an associate’s degree, university officials were able to ________ him the associate’s degree he had earned in full all those years ago.

“It’s very ________ to see a part of old generation receive his degree and be a part of this ________,” said Terence Harrison, program manager of Veterans Programs and Services, according to the university website. “It just goes to show that you’re never too old to see your dreams ________.”

1.

A．travelled

B．jumped

C．walked

D．drove

2.

A．received

B．recognized

C．exchanged

D．chose

3.

A．turned in

B．took over

C．put away

D．applied for

4.

A．practice

B．process

C．service

D．movement

5.

A．career

B．business

C．challenge

D．argument

6.

A．flew

B．happened

C．waved

D．skipped

7.

A．result

B．goal

C．function

D．reason

8.

A．test

B．expect

C．see

D．watch

9.

A．necessary

B．special

C．practical

D．traditional

10.

A．noticing

B．requiring

C．deciding

D．discovering

11.

A．credits

B．pleasure

C．prizes

D．gifts

12.

A．donate

B．sell

C．issue

D．show

13.

A．entertaining

B．inspiring

C．interesting

D．puzzling

14.

A．holiday

B．operation

C．experiment

D．celebration

15.

A．realized

B．imagined

C．predicted

D．reminded

9 . China just successfully landed its first rover (探测器) on Mars, becoming only the second nation to do so. Tianwen-1 arrived in Mars’ orbit (轨道) in February 2021 after being sent into space on a Long March 5 rocket in July 2020.

After circling the Red Planet for three months, the Tianwen-1 lander, with the rover attached, separated from the orbiter to begin its going down toward the planet’s surface. Once the lander and rover entered Mars’ atmosphere, the spacecraft went through the “seven minutes of terror” before attempting soft landings on Mars. A heat cover protected the spacecraft during the landing. After that the spacecraft safely parachuted (用降落伞投放) down to the Utopia Planitia region, a plain in the planet’s northern part. Tianwen-1’s landing platform fired some small, downward-facing rocket engines to slow down during the last few seconds of its landing.

China’s Mars rover, called Zhurong, is expected to spend at least 90 Mars days roving around on Mars to study the planet’s composition and look for signs of water ice.

Zhurong will study the Red Planet, and the orbiter will serve as a data station for communications between Zhurong and mission controllers on Earth. The orbiter is designed to last for at least one Mars year, or about 687 Earth days.

China is also planning a Mars mission in 2028, much like a joint NASA and ESA mission scheduled to begin that same year. China is also working with Russia on another mission scheduled to start in 2024.

1. It took Tianwen-1 _______ to land on the surface of Mars.

A．3 months	B．5 months
C．7 months	D．10 months

2. What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A．The landing of Tianwen-1.	B．The seven minutes of terror.
C．The working principle of rockets.	D．The plain in the planet’s northern part.

3. What’s the mission of Zhurong?

A．To look for fresh water.	B．To find living places for humans.
C．To research the make-up of Mars.	D．To learn how to land on Mars safely.

4. Which of the following best describes China’s space programs?

A．Unique.	B．Promising.
C．Overheated.	D．Unbeatable.

10 . Spending less time in REM sleep is related to a greater overall risk of death from any cause as well as from heart disease and other diseases except for cancer, a new study finds.

REM, which stands for rapid eye movement, is the stage of sleep in which we dream and information and experiences are consolidated and stored in memory. “The effect of short REM time on death has not been previously shown,” said Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky, who directs Sleep Basic Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The study, published Monday in JAMA Neurology, studied the sleep patterns of 2,675 men who participated in the research “Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men” (MrOS), which followed male sleep disorder between 2003 and 2016. Sleep was measured in an at-home sleep study at the beginning and again over a four-day period via a sleep watch.

Men in the MrOS study had a 13% higher heart and overall death rate over a dozen years for every 5% loss of REM sleep, even after adjusting for sleep and health variables. Results were mirrored in the Wisconsin study, even though study participants were younger, followed for a longer time—over 20 years.

“However, it is important to realize these findings are not a cause and effect but a connection,” said Polotsky, adding that there was also no control group, a key element of gold standard experimental studies.

Polotsky said the study did not include a representative sample of African Americans and other races, and may have not fully controlled for depression. Many of the participants were on medicine for depression, which he said are known to affect REM sleep. “I would take the study results with a grain of caution. Further studies needed to consider a possible contribution of depression and to examine this relationship in other races,” Polotsky said.

1. What does the underlined word “consolidated” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Removed.

B．Weakened.

C．Strengthened.

D．Reduced.

2. How did the researchers get the result?

A．By measuring adults’ sleep in the lab.	B．By studying the sleep patterns of men.
C．By adjusting for sleep and health variables.	D．By tracking both men and women’s sleep time.

3. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．REM is the main reason of death.

B．The samples of the test groups were limited.

C．Depression was seriously examined in the test.

D．Drugs and medicine had little influence on REM.

4. Which is the best title for the text?

A．REM and Heart Diseases	B．The More REM, the Better
C．MrOS, a Main Threat to REM	D．Less REM Sleep, Higher Risk of Death