1 . The cry of the fishing cat sounds like the quack of a duck, and the rest of this midsize cat also enables it to hunt in the water. Its streamlined head is perfect for moves in the mangrove swamps (红树林沼泽地) and wetlands of South and Southeast Asia, and its pointy ears even fold (折叠) down when it jumps into deep water. The short and strong tail helps control its direction. The extra-thick coat keeps it warm and dry while swimming.

“I found fishing cats to be very ingenious,” says Tiasa Adhya, co-founder of The Fishing Cat Project, a research and conservation group based in eastern India. Her research recently showed that the animal has two methods of catching fish. In deep waters, the cat stays still on the banks for hours before jumping into the water for the kill. In shallow (浅的) waters, though, the cat actively drives the fish out of their hiding places by moving about with heavy steps.

Now the fishing cat is facing another challenge: humans. The world has lost almost 90 percent of its wetlands since the 1700s, with Asia suffering the greatest loss. These days, industrialized fish farming, pollution and other human behaviors have destroyed the living condition of freshwater fish and set fishing cats against farmers, as the hungry cats steal farmed fish, and the farmers get even with them (报复). Once found along river systems from Pakistan to Vietnam, the cats have disappeared from large areas of their range.

Researchers are testing new methods, including the commercial launch (商业化推出) of a type of native rice variety. Depending on nutrients (营养物) washed in by rains rather than on chemicals, the rice creates living space for the fishing cat and its food. The idea is that in healthy lakes where there is plenty to feed fishing cats and fishermen alike, killings will be unnecessary. “Nobody takes a loss,” Adhya explains, “when somebody takes a fish.”

1. What does the author want to explain about fishing cats in the first paragraph?

A．Why they moved to South and Southeast Asia.

B．What helps them swim well in the water.

C．What pushes them to live with ducks.

D．Why they love staying in the water.

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

A．Friendly.

B．Alarmed.

C．Clever.

D．Lazy.

3. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The battle between fishing cats and humans.

B．The decision to protect freshwater fish.

C．The importance of stopping pollution.

D．The method of increasing wetlands.

4. What can we infer about the new method mentioned in the last paragraph?

A．It will do some harm to the environment.

B．It will create a win-win situation.

C．It will increase food production.

D．It will cost a lot of money.

2 . As a child, Cruz Avila walked through the forest every day in central Mexico’s Amanalco-Vall de Bravo Basin. She would pick wood and medicinal plants. She also learned to find birds and identify the different trees near her home. Avila learned that listening to a waterfall is a good medicine for the soul and the body.

Several months ago, she and other residents decided to make these walks an attraction for tourists. Their goal is to create a source of income, preserve the forest and support responsible medicine for the soul tourism. In 2021, Avila and other community members attended training as nature guides.

In recent years, residents of the forest communities have suffered from tourism that’s not environmentally sustainable (可持续的). In early April 2022, the communities officially presented their alliance (联盟). One of the people presenting it was Avila, and her voice echoed (附和) the feelings shared by many who are part of this project. “To us, forests are our home,” she said. “We want to take care of them as we take care of our home. We invite hikers and tourists to come to see our house, to get to know and enjoy this place with respect and care.”

Avila said her community has developed a sustainable tourism plan based on hiking and workshops. They also plan to have a viewing platform ready by 2023.

Avila said she plans to start promoting her hiking project, “I’m going to take visitors to a place called El Caballero, and halfway through, with the other neighbors, we’ll offer them a workshop on making pulque and bread,” she said. Pulque is a drink made from a plant that grows in the region.

She believes the tourism project will receive support from visitors. She thinks it will be especially popular with those who are eager to help protect the forests and want to learn about forest communities.

1. Why does the author describe Avila’s childhood in paragraph 1?

A．To explain the source of medicine.

B．To prove the importance of the forest.

C．To introduce the lifestyle of local teens.

D．To memorize the good days of children.

2. What did Avila call for in her words in Paragraph 3?

A．Sustainable rural tourism.

B．Respect for the local culture.

C．The restoration of destroyed forests.

D．The end of some tourism companies.

3. What is Avila planning to offer visitors?

A．An experience of identifying trees

B．A chance to swim in a lake

C．A permission to pick medicinal plants.

D．A workshop to make pulque and bread.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Memorizing the Good Days in the Forests

B．Showing Respect for the Traveling Routes

C．Promoting Sustainable tourism to Protect the Forests

D．Developing the Local Traveling Business

6 . A United Nations report found the ozone layer (臭氧层) is slowly recovering, more than 35 years after every nation in the world agreed to stop producing ozone-consuming chemicals. The ozone layer, a blanket of gas that exists between 10km and 50km above Earth’s surface, protects the planet from the sun’s powerful radiation.

“We see things getting better,” said Paul Newman, co-chair of the UN team that examines the health of the ozone layer every four years. The global average amount of ozone 30km high in the atmosphere won’t be back to 1980 levels until about 2040, the report said. And it won’t be back to normal in the Arctic until 2045.In Antarctica, where the ozone layer is so thin that there’s a big hole, it won’t be fully fixed until 2066, the report said.

The global effort to recover the ozone hole came out of a 1987 agreement called the Montreal Protocol. Professor Petteri Taalas said the recovering of the ozone layer showed what could be achieved when the world worked together. “Ozone action sets an example for climate action,” Professor Taalas said.

There were signs of recovering in the last report on the ozone layer four years ago but the improvements were only slight. “Those numbers of recovery have solidified a lot,” Mr. Newman said. Mr. Newman added the two main chemicals that damage the ozone layer—chlorine (氯) and bromine (溴)—were now in lower levels in the atmosphere. Chlorine levels were down 11.5 per cent since peaking in 1993 and bromine, which is more damaging to the ozone layer but is at lower levels in the air, dropped 14.5 per cent since its 1999 peak.

UN environment program director Inger Andersen has previously said the recovering of the ozone hole was “saving two million people every year from skin cancer”.

1. What do we know about the ozone layer from paragraph 1?

A．It made the whole world work together.

B．It can protect the sun from powerful radiation.

C．It is recovering at a speed more than expected.

D．It can produce some chemicals for consumption.

2. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The average amount of ozone.	B．The present situation of ozone.
C．The places where ozone appears.	D．The times when ozone fully recovers.

3. What is Petteri Taalas’s attitude to dealing with climate change?

A．Surprised.

B．Uncertain.

C．Optimistic.

D．Doubtful.

4. What fact did Mr. Newman tell us?

A．There were some false data in the last report.

B．Chlorine and bromine levels in the air have come down.

C．Skin cancer is caused to a larger extent by the ozone layer.

D．Chlorine causes more damage to the ozone layer than bromine.

7 . 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。

    1    (handle) the widespread use and environmental damage caused by single-use plastics,   a Chinese research institute has proposed developing new technologies    2    using a more eco-friendly substitute-bamboo. The proposal,    3    (announce)on Thursday by the International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan, comes after the Bamboo as a Substitute for Plastic Initiative introduced at the High-level Dialogue on Global Development held     4     (virtual) in Beijing in June.

Fei Benhua, director of the International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan, said bamboo-straw manufacturing technology could be realized and used to replace plastic straws on     5    large scale,    6    (add) that using bamboo to make straws is just the beginning.

The world makes nearly 400 million metric tons of plastic every year for use in packaging, construction, catering and other    7    (purpose), and China’s delivery industry annually     8    (produce) about 1.8 million tons of plastic waste. A sharp rise in single-use plastics,     9    are produced almost entirely from fossil fuels, has damaged the well-being of the planet. Bamboo, on the other hand, can be used to produce cups, straws, paper and packaging, while being     10    (recycle) and environmentally friendly.

9 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Melati and Isabel deeply love their home on the island, surrounded by tropical rain forests, green fields, and a vast ocean. Enjoying a swim at their local beach was once a daily pleasure for them. But when Melati was fifteen, and Isabel just ten, the sisters started to lose their enthusiasm for swimming in the waters near their borne. More often than not, plastic bags would be around them as they swam and some were scattered on the beach. They got really upset about that.

Melati didn’t think much about it until one day her teacher gave a lesson on some world heroes. Each of those people had sparked movements of positive changes in the world. They believed in the impact they could have and they did inspire more people to do something meaningful. After school, Melati walked home slowly in silence, concerned about the vast amount of plastic rubbish on the beach. The heroes crossed her mind. If they could do it, we could do it too, she thought. The idea lit her up. She couldn’t wait to share what she thought with Isabel and quickened her pace.

“So many plastic bags around! The beach is dirty and messy! It’s so terrible! We have lost the clean and beautiful beach. Can’t we do something to get it back?” Melati said heartily. Isabel felt a bit puzzled at what to do, but she also had a strong desire to do something. Picturing a beach as fascinating as before in mind, the pair jumped with joy.

They talked a lot, anxious to know how Dad and Mom would respond to their ideas. That night when the family sat by the dinner table, the sisters eagerly got their ideas across. While Mom and Dad listened to the girls carefully, their eyes shone. “How amazing that would be! We are so proud of you!” Dad exclaimed. Mom came up, gave them a thumb up and hugged the sisters.

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。

Melati and Isabel decided to make a positive impact straight away.

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One month later, Melati received a call from the local newspaper.

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10 . The mangrove tree might not look very impressive, but it is an essential part of our ecosystem. However, more than half of the mangrove forests have been destroyed in the past century. Several World Heritage Sites have been listed largely because of their mangrove ecosystems. Among them are the Sundarbans across India and Bangladesh, the Everglades National Park in the US, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Being a World Heritage Site requires for the mangroves to be protected. However, one country in Asia has gone further by having a five-year program to protect and conserve all their mangroves. They even have a mangrove museum and observe World Mangrove Day. This country is Sri Lanka. Why are mangrove trees so important to Sri Lanka and to other countries where mangroves grow?

The mangrove tree grows along coastal saltwater shorelines. They have adapted to the harsh coastal weather and have deep roots. This means that they are strong and cannot be easily removed. In countries where natural disasters such as tsunamis and cyclones occur, the forests provide protection. The villages in Sri Lanka with full mangrove forests have suffered less damage when hit by these natural disasters. The reason is that the mangroves break up the force and strength of the waves.

The mangroves also quickly absorb carbon dioxide and send oxygen into the atmosphere. This makes them an important part of the fight against climate change. They absorb far more carbon dioxide than other types of forest, and store it in their structure and even in the soil. This is important as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is believed to be a cause of detrimental changes in the weather, such as global warming.

The strong roots also provide protection for young fish as they grow. With the oceans around the world being overfished, it is important to maintain the ecological balance in the oceans. For Sri Lanka, one of the threats to the mangrove forests is the shrimp farms being set up. To build saltwater ponds for the shrimps, the mangroves are cut down. This has resulted in fewer fish surviving among the mangrove roots and fewer fish being caught by the fishermen. The local fishing communities noticed that they were losing money and it made them aware of how important the mangroves were. They are now helping to conserve the forests.

Sri Lanka is showing that a nation can preserve all of its mangroves. The conservation model they have can be used by other countries. It might take many years of planning, but the benefits of saving mangroves definitely outweigh the costs.

1. What do we know about the mangrove trees from the passage?

A．They are mainly grown in Australia.

B．They can prevent young fish from growing.

C．They have been damaged by natural disasters.

D．They are less impressive but important to the ecosystem.

2. What has been done in Sri Lanka to protect mangroves?

A．A world mangrove festival has been founded.

B．Saltwater ponds for the shrimps have been set up.

C．A 5-year mangroves protecting program has been started.

D．More mangroves along the coastal areas have been grown.

3. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．The mangroves can keep the ecological balance in the oceans.

B．The mangroves are essential for fighting against climate change.

C．The mangroves have deep roots and hold the soil in place firmly.

D．The mangroves can break up the force and strength of the waves.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the future conservation of mangroves?

A．Positive.

B．Negative.

C．Doubtful.

D．Unclear.