1 . In south Africa’s Limpopo province, a baobab tree (猴面包树) once grew so large and stood so strong that its human neighbors decided to build a pub inside the living tree’s thousand-year-old hollow trunk(树干). For 20 years, “The Big Baobab Pub” attracted tourists all over the world. But in August 2016, one of “the walls” broke. Eight months later, another huge piece broke, too. Now, five of the giant stems have collapsed and died, leaving only half of the tree standing.

Though it could sound like a result of human visitation, it's part of an alarming trend: many of the oldest, largest baobab trees in Africa have died within the last 12 years.

Stephan Woodbourne, an African scientist, said: “Of the oldest trees that we’ve looked at in Southern Africa, the three trees that are older than 2,000 years have all died in the past 10 years. Of the 11 trees that are 1,000 to 2,000 years old, six of them have died.”

A report published in the journal Nature Plants claims scores of the ancient baobab trees, some of which are up to 3,000 years old, are now dying because of rising global temperatures.

Researchers believe it is impossible that such a high number of old baobab trees die in such a short time due to natural causes. They think it may be associated with huge change of climate conditions that affect southern Africa in particular.

1. What has happened to The Big Baobab Pub?

A．The pub has largely been destroyed.

B．More tourists from the world visit it.

C．The pub has a long history of 2,000 years.

D．The Baobab Tree grows larger and stronger.

2. The paragraphs from 2 to 4 mainly tell us that ________.

A．all the oldest baobab trees have been dead

B．the oldest baobab trees will die out soon

C．ancient baobab trees are in the face of danger

D．Human’s visits lead to ancient baobab trees’ deaths

3. What is probably the main reason for the trees’ death?

A．Many pubs’ foundation.	B．Global climate changes.
C．Human visitation.	D．Natural causes.

4. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Research on Baobab Tree.	B．Facts about Baobab Tree.
C．Baobab Tree in Africa.	D．Tree of Life is Dying.

2 . Once there was a farmer with a wife and two sons. He became quite________through hardworking. He wanted his children to have a(n)________life, so he and his wife did all the work and________made them do anything.

After some time, his wife died and________he didn’t want his children to________, so he did the field labor and all the housework. But as time went on, he became old and________, and started to worry about his________when he died.

So he thought about this for a long time and he________his sons and said, “Look, my inheritance (遗产) to you is a lot of gold. I’ve________all my gold in the fields, so it’s up to you to plough (耕作) them and________the gold.”

And he called his neighbors and said, “I’m going to________and my children don’t know how to________themselves. So please cook for them until they can take care of themselves.”

So the neighbors provided them with________for some time.

Certainly the brothers didn’t want to be robbed of the________so they did the digging themselves. They________one field after another and after they had dug all the fields, they found no gold.

So the brothers sat down and one________the other, “Do you think our father________us?”

But the other brother said, “No, I think our father was saying that the________is a golden profession. And if we dig up all the________we can become rich.”

So like all the other________, they sowed wheat in the fields they had dug and became very rich in the end.

1.

A．rich

B．strong

C．clever

D．busy

2.

A．hard

B．easy

C．different

D．ordinary

3.

A．always

B．often

C．never

D．sometimes

4.

A．also

B．thus

C．ever

D．still

5.

A．work

B．move

C．study

D．play

6.

A．healthy

B．sick

C．foolish

D．wise

7.

A．brothers

B．friends

C．children

D．relatives

8.

A．showed

B．taught

C．visited

D．called

9.

A．lost

B．hidden

C．planted

D．put

10.

A．harvest

B．find

C．buy

D．use

11.

A．leave

B．travel

C．die

D．disappear

12.

A．look at

B．look out

C．look after

D．look for

13.

A．relief

B．money

C．water

D．food

14.

A．gold

B．silver

C．oil

D．coal

15.

A．dug

B．piled

C．operated

D．searched

16.

A．advised

B．asked

C．followed

D．doubted

17.

A．loved

B．cared

C．understood

D．cheated

18.

A．gardening

B．fishing

C．building

D．farming

19.

A．roots

B．stones

C．fields

D．pipes

20.

A．farmers

B．workers

C．fishers

D．builders

3 . Ways to Put Down Your Smartphone

For most people, when they wake up in the morning, the first thing coming to their mind is to find their smartphone. If it is the same to you, it is time for you to put your smartphone down.    1    

Pick up a newspaper

Read a newspaper and be amazed at how relaxing it is to read through the day's news. We will find our attention has increased and we will enjoy reading it.    2    Even the New York Times is only $9 a week for home delivery, plus digital access.

    3    

Take your old radio out again, plug it in, and be amazed at how vital radio still can be. More importantly, you won't be attracted to check other apps and websites.

Cut off social media ties

We love Facebook or Twitter to communicate with friends and relations.    4    And turn off app and email information at some other time in any other places, so you aren’t attracted by them. Pile up your phones

Today, it seems nearly impossible to put your phone down for 60 minutes. However, whether dining at home or out on the town, stick to (坚持) a no-device policy.    5    Even better, you can also have a waiter place them out of site, so no one can break the policy.

A．Here are the results of giving up using your smartphone.

B．Here are some quick and easy ways to put them aside.

C．And don’t be worried about the cost.

D．Listen to the news report

E．Just check in at your lunch break or at the gym.

F．To make it stick, you can place phones in the center of the table.

G．Listen to the radio.

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。

The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It     1     (build) originally to protect the city     2     the Tang dynasty and has now been completely restored (修复). It is possible       3     (walk) or bike the entire 14 kilometers.

We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.

After     4     (spend) some time looking at all the defensive equipment at the wall, we decided it was time for some action and what     5     (good) than to ride on a piece of history!

We     6     (hire) our bikes from the rental place at the South Gate. My bike was old and shaky     7     did the job. It took us about 3 hours to go all     8     way around the Xi’an City Wall. Supposedly you can do it in two hours, but we stopped at the different gates and     9     (watchtower) to take pictures or just to watch the local people going about their     10     (day) routines.

5 . A Take a view, the Landscape(风景)Photographer of the Year Award, was the idea of Charlie Waite, one of today’s most respected landscape photographers.Each year, the high standard of entries has shown that the Awards are the perfect platform to showcase the very best photography of the British landscape.Take a view is a desirable annual competition for photographers from all comers of the UK and beyond.

Mike Shepherd(2011) Skiddaw in Winter Cumbria, England

It was an extremely cold winter’s evening and freezing fog hung in the air. I climbed to the top of a small rise and realised that the mist was little more than a few feet deep, and though it was only a short climb, I found myself completely above it and looking at a wonderfully clear view of Skiddaw with the sun setting in the west. I used classical techniques, translated from my college days spent in the darkroom into Photoshop, to achieve the black—and—white image(图像).

Timothy Smith(2014) Macclesfield Forest Cheshire, England

I was back in my home town of Macclesfield to take some winter images. Walking up a path through the forest towards Shutlingsloe. a local high point, I came across a small clearing and immediately noticed the dead yellow grasses set against the fresh snow. The small pine added to the interest and I placed it centrally to take the view from the foreground right through into the forest.

1. Who would most probably enter for Take a view?

A．Writers.

B．Photographers.

C．Painters.

D．Tourists.

2. What do the works by Shepherd and Smith have in common?

A．They are winter images.

B．They are in black and white.

C．They show mountainous scenes.

D．They focus on snow—covered forests.

3. Where can the text be found?

A．In a history book.

B．In a novel.

C．In an art magazine.

D．In a biography.