| 1. 难度：中等 | |
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Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word: for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank. Plants Scream in the Face of Stress For the first time, researchers appear to have evidence that like animals, those plants deprived of water or 1. (force) to endure bodily harm can let out their pain. The study, 2. has yet to be published in a scientific Journal, adds another dimension to scientists 3. (grow) understanding of how plants detect and interact with their surroundings. In recent years, it has become very clear that plants are more sensitive than researchers 4. (think). They respond when touched by insects and turn toward sources of light. "Plants are not just robotic stimulus-response devices," said Frantisek Baluska of the University of Bonn in Germany. "They're living organisms which have their own problems/' Actually making their suffering hearable, however, is another matter entirely. 5. (test) that possibility, a team led by Itzhak Khait, a plant scientist at Tel Aviv University in Israel, placed microphones capable of detecting ultrasonic frequencies (超声波频率)four inches from tomato and tobacco plants. The researcher then either stopped watering them or cut their stems. Measuring in the range of 20 to 150 kilohertz (千赫).the researchers found that even happy, healthy plants made the occasional noise. But when cut, tobacco plants emitted 6. average of 15 sounds within an hour of being cut 7. tomato plants produced 25 sounds. 8. researchers aren't yet sure how plants produce these sounds, Khait and his colleagues proposed one possibility in their paper 9. as water travels through the plants' tubes, air bubbles will form and explode, producing small vibrations. All this "screaming” caused by stress wasn't in a range detectable by human ears. But organisms that can hear ultrasonic frequencies—like mice, bats or perhaps other plants—10. possibly hear the plants cries from as far away as 15 feet.
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| 2. 难度：中等 | |
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Making choices is hard. That would be why researcher Moran Cerf has _______ it from his life. As a rule, he always chooses the second menu item at a restaurant. This is _______ by his research in neuroeconomics(神经经济学)(a somewhat new. divisive field) at Northwestern University. As Business Insider describes, Cerf has extended his ideas—which draw on some controversial ideas in psychology, including ego depletion out-into a piece of advice that, to _______ happiness, people should "build a life that requires _______ decisions by surrounding themselves with people who possess traits they prefer. On an instinctive level, Cerf's idea _______: Many choices people make are the product of social pressures and the inputs of _______ people around them. One example Cerf furnishes is that. _______ consistently ordering the second menu item, he never picks where to eat. Rather, he _______ his decision to his dining partner—which friend he plans to eat with, probably one he trusts—and always lets them pick. While it’s _______ what, if any scientific principles underlie those pieces of advice, there is no shortage of research showing that choices can sometimes feel more ________ than liberating. An example from Quanta poits (假设)：If you have a clear love of Snickers(士力架),choosing that over an Almond Joy(杏仁巧克力)or a Milky Way(牛奶巧克力)should be a ________. And, as an experiment conducted by neuroscientist Paul Glimcher at NYU shows most of the time it is, ________ you introduce more choices. When the participants were offered three candy bars (Snickers, Milky Way, and Almond Joy) they had no problem picking their favorite, but when they were given the option of one among 20 including Snickers, they would sometimes drift away from their ________. When the choices were taken away in later trials, the participants would wonder what caused them to make such a bad decision. As Quanta details, according to a model called “divisive normalization”(分裂归一化), which has gained some popularity, the way the brain encodes choices has a lot to do with how it values all its options. So if you have two things that are clearly ________ brain areas involved in decision-making fire in a pattern that makes the decision clear. When the choices are comparable, the brain docs its best to focus on the distinctions between the two, but more choices ________ that ability out. 1.A.relieved B.released C.eliminated D.liberated 2.A.influenced B.inherited C.implemented D.informed 3.A.maximize B.balance C.cherish D.seek 4.A.safer B.fewer C.better D.sounder 5.A.stands out B.comes into force C.makes sense D.plays a part 6.A.distinguished B.trusted C.authorized D.honored 7.A.in addition to B.instead of C.in spite of D.regardless of 8.A.conveys B.relates C.submits D.limits 9.A.evident B.unclear C.critical D.inevitable 10.A.confusing B.inspiring C.worrying D.appealing 11.A.stressor B.no-brainer C.challenge D.headache 12.A.after B.before C.when D.until 13.A.preference B.struggle C.status D.direction 14.A.impressive B.insignificant C.unique D.distinct 15.A.crowd B.figure C.sort D.put
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| 3. 难度：中等 | |
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One spring day. once the flowers have begun to open, a bee will hover (盘旋)and zip through your yard and dive-bomb your picnic table. While you're thinking about avoiding an attack, that bee is focused on something else entirely: me. A honeybee has about six weeks to live. Today, like most days, her task is to fly as many as three miles from home, stick her long, straw-like tongue into a hundred or so flowers. When the bee has had her fill, she'll fly home. There the bee will deposit what she has got into the mouth of one of her co-workers, who will relay it to another, and so on for about 20 minutes, until the mixture is ready to be placed into the comb. Then she and her 50.000 or so mates will hover in the dark all night every night, flapping their wings to create hot, breezy conditions to remove the water from the mixture. Several sunrises later, they will seal me off in a golden cell of beeswax. In her lifetime, our bee may visit 4.000 flowers, and yet will produce only one-twelfth of a tea spoon of me. The average American consumes nearly a pound and a half of me every year, in tea, on toast, and beyond. If I do say so myself, I am a timeless treasure. Literally—I never go bad. Unfortunately, my good health is not guaranteed. The problem lies in the growth of industrial agriculture and the use of pest control chemicals, as well as changes in weather patterns, all of which reduce the number of flowers bees have to visit. I'd appreciate your letting your own garden grow just a little wild. My future depends on all of us fostering spring and summers wild flowers, thus helping the bees, who give so much—to you, to me—without ever asking for anything in return. 1.What does "me" refer to in the passage? A.The flower. B.The bee. C.Water. D.Honey. 2.What is the 2nd paragraph mainly about? A.Bees' special talent. B.Bees’ hard work. C.Bees' living environment. D.Bees' social behavior. 3.Which one of the following is true according to the passage? A.A bee will always prioritize attacking picnic lovers. B.Before "me" is sealed off in beeswax, the drying process can take a few nights. C.The lifework of a bee satisfies the average demand of an American consumer annually. D.Bees are more likely to visit those deliberately pest-controlled gardens. 4.What is the purpose of the passage? A.To appeal for help for honeybees. B.To talk about the history of a treasure. C.To put forward techniques for gardeners. D.To argue against the control of chemicals.
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| 4. 难度：困难 | |
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| 5. 难度：困难 | |
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A rare hole has opened up in the ozone layer above the Arctic, in what scientists say is the result of unusually low temperatures in the atmosphere above the north pole. The hole, which has been (racked from space and the ground over the past few days, has reached record dimensions, but is not expected to pose any danger to humans unless it moves further south. If it extends further south overpopulated areas, such as southern Greenland, people would be at increased risk of sunburn. However, on current trends the hole is expected to disappear altogether in a few weeks. Low temperatures in the northern polar regions led to an unusual stable polar vortex（极地漩涡），and the presence of ozone-destroying chemicals such as chlorine（氯）in the atmosphere -- from human activities - caused the hole to form. “The hole is principally a geophysical curiosity." said Vincent-Henri Peuch. director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. "We monitored unusual dynamic（动态的）conditions, which drive the process of chemical depletion of ozone. Those dynamics allowed for lower temperatures and a more stable vortex than usual over the Arctic, which then triggered the formation of polar stratospheric（平流层的）clouds and the catalytic（催化的）destruction of ozone." The hole is not related to the Covid-19 shutdowns that have dramatically cut air pollution and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. It is also too early to say whether the unusually stable Arctic polar vortex conditions are linked with the climate crisis, or part of normal stratospheric weather variability. Peuch said there were no direct implications for the climate crisis. Temperatures in the region are already increasing, slowing the depletion of ozone, and the hole will start to recover as polar air mixes with ozone-rich air from lower latitudes. The last time similar conditions were observed was in spring 2011. While a hole over the Arctic is a rare event, the much larger hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic has been a major cause for concern for more than four decades. The production of ozone-depleting chemicals has been dramatically reduced, under the 1987 Montreal Protocol 蒙特利尔协议），but some sources appear still to be functioning—in 2018. unauthorized emissions were detected from some areas. New sources of ozone-depleting chemicals were not a factor in the hole observed in the Arctic, said Peuch. "However, this is a reminder that one should not take the Montreal Protocol measures for granted, and that observations from the ground and from satellites are central to avoid a situation where the ozone-destroying chemical level in the stratosphere could increase again.'' 1.What is the possible meaning of the underlined word "depletion"? A.replacement B.consumption C.increase D.production 2.According to the passage, scientists are concerned about the hole because . A.it is expected to be a threat to the mankind B.the new hole is caused by air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions C.it may encourage further scientific research and environmental awareness D.it warns us of an oncoming climate crisis 3.What can be learned from the last two paragraphs? A.The hole over the Arctic shares the same causes as the one over the Antarctic. B.Human activities are highly responsible for producing ozone-destroying chemicals. C.The Montreal Protocol has successfully prevented new emissions. D.Some new illegal emissions are to blame for the hole over the Arctic. 4.The best title for the passage is probably . A.Record-size Hole Opens in Ozone Layer above the Arctic B.Actions Urgently Needed for a New Hole in Ozone Layer C.Environmental Disaster and International Cooperation D.How a Hole in Ozone Affects our Life on Earth
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| 6. 难度：中等 | |
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Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need. People like to post their selfies(自拍!on social media. To know more about it, scientists at Syracuse University in New York recently did a research and came up with some surprising findings. People who post selfies and use editing software to make themselves look better show behaviors connected to narcissism, the researchers said. 1. Makana Chock, a professor from Syracuse University, said because social media is mostly used by people to share unimportant information about their lives, it is a good place for people to "work towards satisfying their own vanity.'' Those “likes" under their Facebook selfies make them feel good. 2. Some people feel "peer pressure" to post selfies and some follow the popular belief that if there is no picture of an event or experience, it did not really happen. "Anyway, it shouldn't be seen as negative. People get sense of satisfaction especially when they get likes. And it does no harm," Chock said. Other findings from the study include: There are no major differences on how often men and women post selfies and how often they use editing software. 3. Chock said posting selfies on social media is not all that different from what people have done for many years. On trips and special events, our parents and grandparents used cameras instead of phones to take photos. They would bring back photos to show friends and family. You had no choice but to look at them. You probably commented about how nice everyone in the photos looked, especially children and the person showing the photos. They were happy to hear your comments. 4. On social media, however, people can decide not to look at photos --even if they click “like". A.Taking selfies is definitely one experience that many people like doing and sharing with the online world. B.People who post group selfies also show a need for popularity and a need to belong to a group. C.Narcissists are people who think very highly of themselves, especially how they look. D.That was the old way of "clicking like". E.The drive to take selfies can nevertheless do some good to society as a whole. F.But men who post selfies showed more of a need to be seen as popular than women did.
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| 7. 难度：中等 | |
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Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible. It's natural to feel the need to control something when everything around you feels out of control, and you feel helpless. When a friend of mine first heard about the coronavirus outbreak, she got down on her hands and knees and cleaned her kitchen floor. She told me, “My floor wasn't even dirty, but doing something constructive made me feel in control and that I was holding on to my power, despite the desperate circumstances.” Your most powerful weapon against uncertainty is your perspective because nobody and no situation can take that from you unless you give it away. Your perspective can victimize or empower you. When you look for the upside in a downside situation and figure out what you can control and what you can't, it's easier to accept whatever is beyond your control.
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| 8. 难度：中等 | |
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Translation 1.我们从来没有像现在这样渴望上学。 2.既然你只能呆在家里，为什么不做你喜欢但又没时间做的事呢？ 3.在欧洲，许多咖啡馆作为社会交往的理想场所，不得不关闭商店以应对公共卫生危机。 4.事实证明，当我们的国家面临困难时，每一个中国人，无论在国内还是国外，都愿意为祖国作出贡献。
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