1 . Plenty, an agricultural technology company in San Francisco, is reinventing farms and farming. Nater Storye, the company’s chief science officer says the future of the farms will be vertical (垂直的) and indoors, so food can be grown anywhere in the world all year round, and farms will employ robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the quality of growth for fruits and vegetables. Plenty does all those things but uses 95% less water and 99% less land.
As AI is on the rise, farmers on flat farms have been using new tools to make farming better or easier. In recent years, they have been using drones (无人机) and robots to improve efficiency. However, flat farms still use a lot of water and land, while a Plenty’s vertical farm can produce the same quantity of fruits and vegetables as a 720-acre flat farm, but on only 2 acres.
Plenty’s climate-controlled indoor farm has rows of plants growing vertically. There are LED lights shining on them, robots moving them around, and AI managing all the variables of water, temperature, and light. The conditions are so good that the production per acre is 400 times higher than that of an outdoor farm.
Another advantage of vertical farming is that the fruits and vegetables are grown at a warehouse nearby instead of 1,000 miles away or more from a city. That means many transportation miles are saved, which can reduce millions of tons of greenhouse gases every year and the price of fruits and vegetables will also go down. Imported (进口的) fruits and vegetables are more expensive, so poor people in society are at an extreme nutritional disadvantage. Vertical farms could cope with this problem.
Also, Plenty’s farms grow organic food without using herbicides (除草剂) or pesticides. They recycle all the water used, even catching the water in the air. The best farm in San Francisco is using 100% renewable energy.
Moreover, all the packaging is 100% recyclable, made of recycled plastic and specially designed to keep the food fresh longer to reduce food waste. Ideally, the company will branch out, opening farms across the country and beyond.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Robots and AI used on vertical farms can quicken the growth of plants. |
| B．Fruits and vegetables grown on vertical farms are more tasty. |
| C．Both land and water can be saved on vertical farms. |
| D．Plenty is the first company to grow crops on vertical farms. |
| A．Register. | B．Improve. | C．Present. | D．Solve. |
| A．They will have more farms. | B．They will only be run by robots and AI. |
| C．They will bring about terrible problems. | D．They will completely take the place of flat farms. |
| A．To question the possibility of vertical farming |
| B．To show the technologies of vertical farming. |
| C．To discuss the potential problems of vertical farming |
| D．To introduce and explain the benefits of vertical farming. |
On Xiaohongshu, a lifestyle-focused social media platform in China, a search for “new Chinese style” could produce over 4 million results,
Whether it is fashion, home furniture, architecture, coffee
3 . Well over half of the average diet in the UK and US now consists of ultra-processed food (UPF) — or, as one scientist prefers to put it, industrially produced edible (可食用的) substances. Though defining it technically is complex, the simple explanation is that it contains items you wouldn’t normally find in a kitchen.
Sometimes UPF looks like junk food obviously artificial and high in salt, fat and sugar. But it often comes in reliable forms such as soup, muesli or yogurt. Unfortunately, almost every food that comes with a health claim on the packet is UPF. And a vast body of data has emerged in support of the theory that UPF damages the human body and increases rates of cancer, mental illness, etc.
Produced by a handful of multinational companies, UPF is created to be cheap to produce and transport, with industrially derived (提取的) substances replacing costlier ingredients (原料) and ensuring long shelf lives. It is also designed to make us buy more — essential in a system where businesses must keep growing to satisfy their shareholders each quarter. Global consumption is rising fast, especially in middle-income countries.
The impact is firstly on individual bodies, but through them on health services. This is a social problem that cannot be solved by telling consumers to check product labels. UPF consumption is not propelled by laziness or greed, but poverty, intensive marketing and foods designed to make us keep eating:
Taking on big food is harder than tackling big tobacco has been. It requires addressing a broad range of products that many people cannot simply cut out. But it is possible and necessary. Addressing poverty is central: when people can afford to eat more healthily, they generally do. The government should ensure that people learn not only about the risks of UPF, but also about how to eat well. Measures should be taken to ensure that the food consumption is pushed by nutritional needs and appetites — not by financialised growth.
1. What can we know about UPF?| A．It can’t be found in a kitchen. | B．It looks like junk food but is healthy. |
| C．It is most popular in rich countries. | D．It may harm physical and mental health. |
| A．Forbidden. | B．Proved. | C．Driven. | D．Assessed. |
| A．To handle the tobacco problem first. | B．To limit the production of UPF. |
| C．To ban people from consuming UPF. | D．To raise people’s awareness of healthy diet. |
| A．UPF: Blame Businesses, Not Consumers | B．UPF: Convenience Food |
| C．UPF: Time to Reach More People | D．UPF: A Sensitive Issue |
4 . “The new normal” is one of those phrases that can accurately apply to a wide variety of life situations, including a medical diagnosis, death or change in life and work. The phrase implies both the newness of each of those circumstances, as well as the necessity that they will need to be normalized, integrated into the reality of our daily lives. Once we’ve settled into new routines and emotional patterns, our “normal” won’t be quite so new anymore, will it? The question is a subject of debate.
There is a large middle ground between the event that increases the need for “the new normal” and its final acceptance. Some people think it can’t handle tragedies. But the phrase keeps coming up in conversation, and it has made me realize that“normal”is the last word I would use to describe the fragile place I currently occupy. I find myself there as I mourn the loss of my grandfather, who died in September. For example, the new normal is to have Thanksgiving without Grandfather, then to remember him on what would have been his 75th birthday just a few days later. In other words, during this year of firsts, the new normal is a time of transition, not of arrival.
It strikes me that this is something to be celebrated, not worried over. Part of living positively is meeting ourselves wherever we are. And as I continue to navigate this in-between time, this period of slowly accepting my father’s absence from the Earth, I recognize that each step along the way is a worthwhile part of a healthy grieving process.
The same idea would apply to more positive changes, like a new home or job, as well as the challenges of the end of a relationship or a difficult medical reality. The new normal isn’t something any of us step into all at once. It’s something we become, move toward, and, eventually, accept. Let’s not be in a rush to reach that destination. The journey has much to teach us.
1. Which occasion should “the new normal” be applied to?| A．A person’s illness outbreak. | B．A person’s routine working. |
| C．A person’s constantly normal life. | D．A person’s annual birthday celebration. |
| A．The fear of it. | B．The attitude to it. |
| C．The reason for accepting it. | D．The difficulty in describing it. |
| A．Forget the dead. | B．Live optimistically. |
| C．Treasure the process over the result. | D．Mourn over a family member’s absence. |
| A．To tell us to value our past challenges. | B．To tell us some meaningful life stories. |
| C．To teach us how to handle our tragedies. | D．To teach us how to cope with life changes. |
5 . There was a time when a trip to the supermarket in the United States often ended with a seemingly simple question from the cashier, “Paper or plastic?” Well, which type of bag would you choose?
While both types of bags have some influence on the environment, it has long been supposed that paper bags are better. They are made from a renewable source, are broken down easily, burn without giving off thick smoke and can be recycled. However, the producing process behind paper bags uses more energy than that of plastic ones. How can this be true?
Studies show that paper bag production requires four times as much energy as plastic bag production. And the amount of water used to make them is twenty times larger. Besides, the influence on forests is very serious. It takes about fourteen million trees to produce ten billion paper bags, which happen to be the number of bags used in the United States yearly. In terms of recycling, the idea that paper bags are more environment-friendly than plastic ones can be quickly discarded. Research shows it requires about 98% less energy to recycle plastic than it does to recycle paper.
Even though paper bags might be more harmful than plastic ones, plastic still seems to be considered as the more harmful of the two by governments. In Ireland, for example, a tax has been introduced to discourage the use of plastic bags. People have to pay 22 cents for every plastic bag, and as a result, their use has dropped quickly.
There’s no doubt that it makes more sense to reuse these bags. However, we don’t seem to be doing that at present. That may be because they fall apart quickly. If so, cloth bags are a better choice, but still, their production also has a bad influence on the environment. So what to do? How should we answer the question of “Paper or plastic?” It seems that we first need to ask ourselves one more general question: “What can I do to help the environment?”
1. Why does the author ask the question at the end of paragraph 1?| A．To express the author’s doubts. |
| B．To tell readers how to save money. |
| C．To show the kindness of the cashier. |
| D．To introduce the point for discussion to arouse readers’ interest. |
| A．need more water to produce | B．require less energy to recycle |
| C．have less influence on forests | D．take more time to break down |
| A．Shared. | B．Discussed. | C．Given up. | D．Put forward. |
| A．Paper or cloth? | B．A new bag or your own one? |
| C．Paper or plastic? | D．A small bag or big one? |
6 . As the carbon countdown clock ticks on, cities must be more imaginative and cooperative, a lively round table hosted in Newham by a non-profit organization Friends of the Earth said.
“Net zero is around the corner,” said Mike Wake, Director of Friends of the Earth. “The UK has cut greenhouse gas emission (排放) by 40% to date mostly through the growth of large renewable generation on the grid (输电网), but further cuts will be needed as London tries to find new ways of using energy.
“While Newham has lower greenhouse gas emission per head than the UK, it has high levels of fuel poverty, poor air quality and leaky homes. Vastly improved energy efficiency, especially on older and leakier homes, along with more efficient forms of heating and an expansion of low carbon heat networks, will help,” said Wake.
“But the future requires a shift to a more communal solution,” the representatives said. District heating, which pipes hot water from a central source to connected homes or businesses, is often a cheaper and lower-carbon method of heating highly populated areas. “It’s the lowest cost and low carbon solution for the future,” Wake added.
“There are new technologies to use wasted heat,” Wake said. “We worked with businesses to decarbonise (使环保) energy supply. Rather than wasting, spare heat generated by manufacturing and other activities can be captured and used to heat nearby properties. Friends of the Earth has already helped save Newham thousands of tonnes of emissions through district heating plans, solar PV and more energy efficient measures in the homes.”
But the challenges are substantial. Newham has London’s second-highest rate of fuel poverty. “Anyway, I’m confident and hopeful about the collective challenge,” said Wake. “But for Newham to be at the forefront of a green economy, to solve fuel poverty and deal with structural equalities, we must spare no effort.”
1. What does Wake think of cutting greenhouse gas emission in the UK?| A．It doesn’t work at all. | B．It ended a short time ago. |
| C．It is very difficult to continue. | D．It still needs to be improved. |
| A．Expensive. | B．Peaceful. | C．Public. | D．Complex. |
| A．By releasing wasted heat. |
| B．By starting up many businesses. |
| C．By making national heating plans. |
| D．By solving the issues about energy. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. | C．Uncaring. | D．Critical. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
My 19-year-old cousin set off from Brisbane to the Whitsundays last Friday evening, face a long 12 hours drive. He was moving back home before two years of living away. He had a friend for company, two cats and a car full of all of his belonging. At midnight, the car broke down and they found themselves was trapped in Gympie. Fortunately, a kindly man came to their rescue. The man took them to his house, when they had a shower and a rest. I also drove them to get spare parts for the car. In end, my cousin and his friend make it home early Sunday morning
8 . Saying no can be unsettling or unnatural since society often teaches us that a “no” can be considered as rude or insensitive. Many of us have been conditioned to say yes just to avoid confrontation and conflict.
But learning how to say no more frequently can yield many benefits including improving your general mental health, establishing clear boundaries, encouraging self-care and enhancing your self-worth and confidence.
According to Psychology Today, successfully using more healthy answers of “no” will mean finding a way that feels authentic for you. They suggest adopting the “sandwich method”, which means sandwiching something that may be considered negative between two positives. This could be as simple as saying something like “Thank you for inviting me, but I won’t be able to join you. I’d love to meet some other time and I’ll check my schedule and see what works.”
Honesty is key to making this work. You have to really check in with yourself and understand why you are saying no. The most important thing is to be aware of your personal needs and make decisions that reflect your self-respect and value your time and resources.
“Not being able to say no can be hard, and may even push you into a space where you’ re exhausted in every possible way. It’s difficult to be in this position, because you always end up prioritizing others’ needs and wants above yours, which in the long run isn’t healthy for you. It is arduous emotionally, mentally and physically,” psychotherapist Shaina Vasundhara Bhatia told Healthshots.
It might take a long time until this new thought model begins to take root, until then Synergy Health Programs recommends rehearsing(排练) in advance what your “no” will sound like, being honest about why what has been requested does not work for you, taking your time to think through the consequences of your decision and then offering your response.
With time, you will begin to gain the benefits of being true to yourself and you might find that by saying no when something doesn’t feel right, you are actually opening the door to a healthier you.
1. How does the text explain the “sandwich method”?| A．By using an example. | B．By referring to quotes. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By mentioning a magazine. |
| A．Beneficial. | B．Struggling. |
| C．Natural. | D．Unimportant. |
| A．It doesn’t come easy. | B．It doesn’t require tips. |
| C．It proves very harmful. | D．It is an immediate response. |
| A．To show the harm of “yes”. | B．To encourage us to be honest. |
| C．To tell the benefits of self-care. | D．To guide us to learn to say no. |
9 . Over the last 60 years, the size of farm machinery has been increasing. For example, from 1958 to 2020, the typical weight of a fully loaded combine harvester for corn or wheat increased nearly ten times.
In a way, it’s fantastic if you see how much we can harvest in a certain amount of time today and how long it would have taken us 60 years ago. Some wheat harvesters, for example, can clear 30 acres in an hour. That incredible efficiency enables about 5 percent of the world’s population to feed the other 95 percent.
But it is at the soil’s expense. One recent study reported that soil compaction (土壤板结) from heavy machines has reduced yields in some fields by as much as 50 percent. If current trends continue, it may eventually reduce global crop production by as much as 20 percent.
“Healthy soil is alive. A teaspoon of garden soil might hold a billion bacteria and networks of air pockets. Heavy farm machinery squeezes the life out of that rich soil by compacting it at depths of a foot or more, lowering oxygen levels and destroying the life that creates the basis for healthy soil. Once damaged, heavily compacted soil can take decades to recover, if it recovers at all.” says Paul Hallett, a soil physicist at the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland.
Farm machinery makers have tried to limit the impact on the soil by equipping heavy vehicles with fatter tires, which distribute the load more widely and keep the vehicles from sinking too deeply into the soil surface. “But if you have a heavier load, the stress decreases less quickly with depth.” says Paul Hallett. “It is a bit like the way tall chimneys on a power plant spread air pollution far downwind.”
1. What does the author think of the heavy farm vehicles?| A．They are environment-friendly. | B．They will go out of style very quickly. |
| C．They do much harm to the soil. | D．They can help increase crop production. |
| A．Decreased crop production. | B．Soil with abundant air pockets. |
| C．Lack of bacteria in the fields. | D．Lower oxygen levels in the soil. |
| A．It is a very good idea to spread air pollution downwind. |
| B．Vehicles with fatter tires will be less harmful to the soil. |
| C．Heavy farm machines with fatter tires just spread the stress. |
| D．More effective measures have to be adopted to cut pollution. |
| A．We have to strike a balance between efficiency and damage. |
| B．It’s fantastic to use more and more advanced farm machinery. |
| C．It is high time that we let the damaged soil recover slowly. |
| D．We can’t produce enough food to feed the world’s population. |
10 . 阅读下面短文, 根据所给情节进行续写, 使之构成一个完整的故事。
A Christmas Visit
As 17-year-old Torriell Norwood drove through St. Petersburg, Florida, last February with her friends to pay a visit to the great park, she shared her dream of becoming a doctor. She had recently taken some first aid courses. The other girls shared stories of their experiences and adventures. But the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls in the car quickly gave way to screams, As they passed a road junction(交叉路口), a car crashed into the side of their vehicle, sending their black car sailing into the yard of a nearby home. It only stopped when it crashed into a tree. All of the girls were in panic.
As smoke rose from the car, a bystander(旁观者)shouted, “It’s about to blow up . Get out. ”The impact had bent the driver’s door, meaning it wouldn’t open. The bystander seized the door handle of the car, using all his strength to pull it open, but failed. Shaken, but otherwise OK. Norwood crawled out through the window. She had a cut on the right side of her face. Her lovely face became very pale. Along with two of her friends, who’d also managed to free themselves, she ran for her life.
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Azarria Simmons, was not with them. Norwood ran back to the car and found Simmons lying in the back seat. “She isn’t moving,” Norwood shouted, with her heart beating hard. She threw open the back door and pulled her friend out, avoiding the broken glass as best she could. She dragged Simmons a few feet to safety and laid her on the ground. She checked per pulse. Nothing. She put her head against Simmons’s chest. No sign of life. That’s when she started CPR(心肺复苏术)
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。
If the accident had happened a few weeks earlier, she might not have known what to do.
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After a while, the CPR worked and Simmons regained her consciousness.
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