1 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. When will the first storm arrive?

A．Today.

B．This weekend.

C．Next week.

2. Which city will have fog?

A．New York City.

B．Saint Paul.

C．Boston.

3. For whom will the ice cause problems according to the speaker?

A．People traveling on foot.

B．People driving on the road.

C．People celebrating by the water.

4. What will the weather be like in Chicago?

A．Sunny.

B．Snowy.

C．Windy.

2 . Chinese scientists are mounting efforts to establish a weather monitoring station at an altitude of 8,800 meters on Mount Qomolangma, the world’s highest peak, on the China-Nepal border.

If the station is established successfully, it will replace the one at an altitude of 8,430 meters set up by UK and US scientists on the south side of the mountain in 2019, to be the world’s highest of its kind, according to the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS).

Equipment weighing some 50 kg will be dismantled and distributed to mountaineers, each of whom will carry no more than 7 kg up onto the mountain for the establishment, said Zhao Huabiao, a researcher with the ITP.

Currently, the engineers in charge of establishing the station are still waiting for the perfect weather for mountaineering.

Including the highest, eight elevation gradient (高程梯度) weather stations will be set up on Mount Qomolangma, one of the main tasks in China’s new comprehensive scientific expedition on the world’s highest peak at the height of 8,848.86 meters.

Three meteorological (气象的) stations were established at sea levels of 7,028 meters, 7,790 meters and 8,300 meters, respectively, earlier this year on the north side of the mountain, bringing the total number of operational weather stations between the altitudes between 5,200 meters and 8,300 meters to seven. Last year, four stations at sea levels of 6,500 meters, 5,800 meters, 5,400 meters and 5,200 meters were set up.

The eight stations will collect the wind speed and wind direction data, as well as relative humidity (湿度) on the north side of Qomolangma, and the elevation gradient weather station system is of great significance for monitoring the melting glaciers (冰川) and mountain snow at the high altitudes, said Zhao.

The expedition team will also set up glacier radar and measure the thickness of snow and ice at the summit of the mountain, he said.

1. What do we know about the new weather monitoring station?

A．It will collect weather data on the south side of Qomolangma.

B．It will become the highest of its kind at an altitude of 8,800 meters.

C．It will make great contributions to the scientific research on Qomolangma.

D．It will be the only weather station set up above the altitude of 8,000 meters.

2. What does the underlined word “dismantled ” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Taken apart.

B．Taken over.

C．Set down.

D．Set aside.

3. How many weather monitoring stations has China set up on Mount Qomolangma?

A．6.

B．7.

C．8.

D．9.

4. Which of the following data can NOT be collected by the weather station?

A．Wind speed.	B．Wind direction.
C．Relative humidity.	D．The thickness of snow.

3 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What was the weather like in the town in the past week?

A．Hot and dry.

B．Cool and dry.

C．Hot and wet.

2. What trouble did beetles cause?

A．They ran into people.

B．They bit people.

C．They attacked animals.

3. What made adult beetles flood into the town?

A．The food waste.

B．The streetlights.

C．The warm sunlight.

4. How did the locals’ fight against beetles turn out?

A．Successful.

B．Worrying.

C．Unpleasant.

4 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. According to the speaker, why do many travelers avoid Australia?

A．They find it is boring there.

B．They think it’s dangerous there.

C．They don’t like the climate there.

2. What is the weather probably like in the middle of Australia?

A．Mild and cool.

B．Cold and windy.

C．Dry and hot.

3. What can be said about Australia lifestyle?

A．It is very formal.

B．It is casual.

C．It is fast-paced.

5 . What does the woman mean?

A．They will call off their flight.

B．The snow-storm won’t last long.

C．They can avoid the cold weather.

6 . Learning about Rainfall around the World

We all need rain

Rain is a necessity around the world. Whatever your feelings, we all need rain. On other planets, it may rain methane (甲烷), iron or sulphuric acid (硫酸).     1    

Wettest and driest

    2     It’s difficult to work out precisely which place on Earth is the wettest, but some contenders (竞争者) include the Indian Himalayas, Hawaii and the town of Tutunendo in Colombia, which can receive 25 meters of rain per year. At the other extreme, the driest place on Earth is the Antarctic, where rainfall is rare and winds are cold, strong and dry.

It’s going to rain

    3     In different cultures, owls, blackbirds, swallows and peacocks and in the US state of Texas, even toads can predict weather change.

    4    

It’s not surprising that ancient people respected the rain and developed myths (神话) connected to animals to explain it. The San people of South Africa say stormy weather is brought by the dangerous rain-bull escaping from his cave, but that soft rain the gift of the gentle rain-cow.     5     Its wings cause thunder as it carries messages across the sky. And the strangest rain myth? In Thailand, a breed of cat called the cloud cat is carried out into the fields and water is sprinkled on its face to bring rain. With global warming making many parts of the world drier, those cats could come in handy!

A．Rain and animals.

B．Animals and ancient people.

C．Animals are believed to predict rain.

D．Rain has different functions and meanings.

E．Some places are luckier than others when it comes to rain.

F．Peoples in North America use strong images of the powerful rain-bird.

G．But, in our universe, only on Earth does fresh water fall from the sky to sustain life.