1 .
| A．She agrees with the man’s plan. |
| B．She is concerned about the weather. |
| C．She considers it unwise to go outside. |
| D．She has a better plan than having a picnic. |
2 . Several security guards of residential compounds in Beijing and workers were seen shoveling snow and some parked vehicles were covered by thick overnight snow. The first snowfall of winter arrived in Beijing early Monday, covering the Chinese capital with a mantle (披风) of white overnight and plunging (使……下降) the city into freezing temperatures, with even colder weather coming this week in northern China.
Snowfall reached 5.8 mm on average by early Monday, with the highest snowfall of 10.2 mm recorded in Fangshan district, Beijing Meteorological (气象的) Service data showed. Beijing typically sees its first snow of the season between late November and February, or even none at all. More snowfall is expected this week, with temperatures seen further sliding to as low as -20°Celsius. The Chinese capital last saw such similarly extremely cold weather on Jan. 7, 2021, when the temperature dropped to -19.6℃.
The cold snap (寒潮) in Beijing this week, compared with the autumn-like conditions a week ago, mirrored the sharp swings in temperatures recently. In October, Beijing experienced one of its warmest Octobers in decades in a year of weather extremes.
On Monday, the government warned of road icing in large parts of the city of nearly 22 million, with authorities shutting some expressways or partially closing sections. By 10 a. m. local time, 62 out of a few hundred flights had been cancelled at the Beijing Capital Airport. Railway authorities enforced speed limits on lines connecting Beijing and Guangzhou in southern China, causing delays in some passenger trains. By 7 a. m. Monday, more than 180 bus routes in Beijing had been suspended.
The official Beijing Daily reported that vegetable stocks were enough, hitting this year’s highest daily market volume of 23,800 tons, as merchants stocked up (备货) ahead of time. Huang, a Beijing resident working in the internet sector, said the snow in Beijing came early. “Normally, it doesn’t snow until the Spring Festival,” Huang said, referring to the start of the Lunar New Year, which typically falls in January or February.
1. Which of the following is not used to show the seriousness of the snowfall in paragraph?| A．By listing out numbers. | B．By illustrating a viewpoint. |
| C．By citing data from the authority. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．From hot summers to mild winters. |
| B．From dry conditions to heavy rainfall. |
| C．From autumn-like conditions to a sudden coldness. |
| D．From constant snow to unexpectedly warm temperatures. |
| A．introduced | B．obeyed | C．happened | D．improved |
| A．Organized community support groups. | B．Increased storage of essential supplies. |
| C．Created emergency shelters for the homeless. | D．Offered discounts and sales to boost business. |
1. What will the weather be like in the afternoon?
| A．Bright. | B．Rainy. | C．Cloudy. |
| A．The height of their nests. | B．The shape of their nests. | C．The way in which they fly. |
| A．To discuss how to take up farming. |
| B．To persuade the woman to study the weather. |
| C．To show where the farmer learned weather prediction. |
| A．Wandering around. | B．Lying down. | C．Eating grass carelessly. |
1. What time is the plane expected to depart?
| A．At 10:45. | B．At 11:30. | C．At 12:15. |
| A．Change to a later flight. |
| B．Wait until the weather clears up. |
| C．Collect a ticket to eat and drink for free. |
1. When will the first storm arrive?
| A．Today. | B．This weekend. | C．Next week. |
| A．New York City. | B．Saint Paul. | C．Boston. |
| A．People traveling on foot. |
| B．People driving on the road. |
| C．People celebrating by the water. |
| A．Sunny. | B．Snowy. | C．Windy. |
6 . Perhaps you know northern Americans still maintain the habit of celebrating Groundhog Day when a large groundhog (土拨鼠) checks to see its shadow on February 2 and helps to predict when winter will end. But have you ever heard about how a mountain town in North Carolina uses a caterpillar (毛毛虫) known as the Woolly Worm to make similar predictions?
According to the folklore (民间传说), the amount of black on the woolly worm in autumn predicts the severity of the upcoming winter. The longer the woolly worm’s black bands (带) are, the longer, colder, snowier, and more severe the winter will be. Similarly, a wider middle brown band is a sign of a milder upcoming winter. The position of the longest dark bands supposedly indicates which part of winter will be coldest or hardest. If the head end of the caterpillar is dark, the beginning of winter will be severe. If the tail end is dark, the end of winter will be cold. In addition, the caterpillar has 13 segments (昆虫的节/段) to its body, which traditional forecasters say correspond to the 13 weeks of winter.
Scientific studies on worm forecasting are rare. American Museum of Natural History entomologist Howard Curran conducted a small trial in 1948. Having heard about the caterpillar folklore, Curran headed to Bear Mountain State Park to collect caterpillars each fall for eight years. He found that if the worms had brown markings on more than a third of their body, winters tended to be milder.
Most scientists view the folklore of caterpillar predictions as just that, folklore. “It’s a wonderful story, but I do think it was a playful trial,” says Joe Boggs, an entomologist at Ohio State University Extension who has studied woolly worms. “Curran was a real scientist. He had tons of papers published, but he never published this one — probably because he knew it wouldn’t stand up to peer review.”
Mike Peters, an entomologist at the University of Massachusetts, doesn’t disagree, but he says there could be a link between the band of a caterpillar and the severity of winter. Peters suggests that the timing of their growth and environmental conditions, such as temperature, moisture levels, and food sources, can impact the appearance of woolly worms, including their size, coloration, and band patterns. By analyzing these characteristics, researchers can potentially infer information about the weather conditions. “The band does say something about a heavy winter,” he says. “The only thing is that it’s telling you about the previous year.”
1. How do people predict the weather through caterpillars?| A．By analyzing their living habits. |
| B．By measuring the change of their size. |
| C．By calculating the number of their segments. |
| D．By studying color bands on their bodies. |
| A．His personal observations. |
| B．An investigation on the locals. |
| C．Studies by previous scientists. |
| D．Statistics collected by the museum. |
| A．Positive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
| A．The caterpillar forecasting needs long-term data to support it. |
| B．The color band of caterpillars can be a mirror of past weather. |
| C．The cold environment has a great impact on caterpillars’ growth. |
| D．The caterpillar can help predict the severity of winter accurately. |
1. How is the weather right now?
| A．Cloudy. | B．Rainy. | C．Sunny. |
| A．On Friday morning. | B．On Thursday morning. | C．On Tuesday morning. |
| A．The southeast. | B．The northwest. | C．The southwest. |
| A．16 degrees. | B．17 degrees. | C．18 degrees. |
| A．Rainy days. | B．Sunny days. | C．Cloudy days. | D．Snowy days. |
9 .
| A．Because she is sick. |
| B．Because she doesn’t see why to go out. |
| C．Because the weather is bad. |
| D．Because they have something else to do. |
1. What can we say about the weather on Sunday?
| A．It was fine. | B．It was hot. | C．It was changeable. |
| A．It’s beyond their expectations. |
| B．It’s a common phenomenon. |
| C．It’s caused by climate change. |
