本试卷共100分。考试时长90分钟。
第一部分:知识运用(共两节,30分)
第一节
完形填空(共10小题;每小题1.5分,共15分)
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。
A school bus driver returned to college to become a high school history teacher, thanks to some 1 students.
Clayton Ward is a history lover, and as such, 2 the time he’d spend chatting with students about their history classes as he 3 them to and from school.
“After several of these discussions, some of the students would tell me they wanted me to be their 4 ,” he said. “That small mention from those kids… it 5 me and gave me the motivation to complete a goal I had started years ago.”
6 , Ward went to college after his high school graduation; but after a year, he had to leave and soon started driving buses. But he still valued 7 , and talking with the students on the bus route renewed his sense of passion for expanding and teaching young minds.
Ward enrolled (注册) at a community college in May 2019, and 8 to take his classes full time while also still driving his bus.
“It wasn’t always 9 . I would drive my route in the morning and afternoon, take classes in between shifts and take night classes,” he said. “I would think of those students and all the years I wanted to make this happen, and it helped me focus my energy.”
“You wouldn’t think that kids can do something like that, to give me the 10 and ambition to go back to school,” Ward said. “It’s kind of crazy that such a small thing can make such an impact on your life.”
1. A. energetic B. supportive C. considerate D. generous
2. A. enjoyed B. found C. saved D. missed
3. A. attended B. watched C. bussed D. trained
4. A. driver B. adviser C. friend D. teacher
5. A. aimed at B. stuck with C. occurred to D. called on
6. A. Initially B. Consequently C. Apparently D. Ultimately
7. A. success B. communication C. responsibility D. education
8. A. hesitated B. offered C. managed D. happened
9. A. suitable B. hopeful C. lucky D. easy
10. A. right B. drive C. chance D. freedom
第二节
语法填空(共10小题;每小题1.5分,共15分)
阅读下列短文,根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词,在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。
A
Adolph Kiefer, a famous swimmer, 11 (die) at the age of 98 in 2017. Kiefer was America’s 12 (old) living Olympic champion. He was the first in the world to break the one-minute mark in the 100-meter backstroke (仰泳) when he was a 16-year-old student. One year later, Kiefer won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke competition at the Olympic Games, 13 (set) a record that would stand for 20 years.
B
About 5,000 years ago, a strange circle of blue stones were set up in Britain. The structure has 80 stones in all and each stone 14 (weigh) about three tons. No one is sure 15 built the structure. One of the most popular beliefs is that the Celts built it. Some even think creatures from another planet who visited Earth left it behind just 16 (let) us know they were here.
C
Have you ever attended a Cinco de Mayo festival? If you have not, you do not know what you are missing. 17 Spanish, the words cinco de mayo mean fifth of May. It is a day for the 18 (celebrate) of the fighting spirit of Mexican people. The festival 19 (hold) both in Mexico and in parts of the United States, especially the Southwest, 20 there is a larger Hispanic population.
第二部分:阅读理解(共两节,38分)
第一节(共14小题;每小题2分,共28分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。
A
To increase your chances of landing an assignment for a travel guidebook, you need to find out what the publishers are looking for. Here are links to their submission guidelines with a few special requirements and tips.
Fonor’s
Fonor’s is a publishing company of both travel guidebooks and online content covering thousands of destinations worldwide. Visit Fonors. com/about-us, and near the bottom of the page you’ll find “Write for Us” with information for submitting articles. Do remember to attach a copy of one of your other works when contributing.
☆ TIP: Fonor’s always hires writers who live in the destinations they cover. So, it’s good to remember: While you may want to write about a foreign destination, more than likely you’re closer to being an expert about the place where you live.
Workman
Workman publishes unique and unexpected travel guides such as 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, and The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris. Consider them if you’re interested in writing a nontraditional travel guide. You can find their submission guidelines at workman, com/work-with-us. They require a typical nonfiction book proposal with a suggested table of contents and author information. A chapter of your other books is also required. Send your submissions to submissions@workman, com.
☆ TIP: If they don’t accept your article, you might be lucky enough to get feedback about why.
Lonely Planet
Writers can get in touch with Lonely Planet by visiting their “Become a Contributor” page at LonelyPlanet. com/contribute. At that page you’ll find a form asking for a résumé (简历) and links to your other writing, but there’s also space for more travel-related information such as geographical knowledge and level of fluency in relevant languages.
☆ TIP: You’ll find they also accept articles for “Travel News”. If they say yes, you may get another chance for a bigger job such as a guidebook.
For more information on publishers, please visit ContributorsDigest. com.
21. This passage is mainly for _____________.
A. guides B. writers
C. travelers D. publishers
22. Who may provide advice on how to improve articles?
A. Fonor’s. B. Workman.
C. Lonely Planet. D. Contributor’s Digest.
23. What is required by all the companies?
A. Geographical knowledge. B. Nontraditional ideas.
C. Overseas experience. D. Previous writing.
B
Craig Foster, bare-chested, was diving in bitterly cold waters off the southern-most tip of Africa when he saw her—an octopus hiding under a coat of shells and stones.
Deeply attracted, he began following this incredibly shy creature. He kept coming back every day to the same place where he first met her, trying to stay very still in her presence. For weeks she refused him: hiding in her home, or pushing her liquid body into the nearest crack to escape. And then, after Foster’s dogged persistence for 26 days, she reached out and touched him.
In the documentary “My Octopus Teacher”, this tender moment moves you in a way you never thought an octopus tentacle (触手) wrapped around a human hand could. The nature documentary won Best Feature at the EarthxFilm Festival 2020.
“If you gain the trust of that animal over a period of months, it will actually ignore you to a certain degree and carry on with its normal life, and allow you to step inside its secret world,” Foster says in his documentary.
We see her outsmarting a shark by riding on its back, growing a new tentacle after surviving a shark attack, and finally wasting away after laying her eggs. “The octopus showed me many behaviors that were completely new to science,” Foster says.
After years of filming some of the planet’s most dangerous animals, Foster was burnt out, depressed, and disconnected. “I was struggling. My only way to heal felt like I needed to be in the ocean, my go-to happy place as a child,” he says.
Completely involving himself in the underwater world has calmed his mind. Over the years other animals have reached out to make contact, including dolphins, whales and even sharks. “But nothing has compared to this, once-in-a-lifetime, bond with the octopus,” Foster says.
The octopus changed Foster’s life forever. Foster says the octopus taught him that humans are part of the natural world, and not simply visitors. “Your own role and place in the natural world is the most precious gift we humans have received,” he says.
24. Foster followed the octopus with _____________.
A. great patience B. a professional goal
C. scientific curiosity D. an adventurous spirit
25. According to “My Octopus Teacher”, the octopus _____________.
A. enjoyed Foster’s attention
B. taught Foster surviving skills
C. placed trust in Foster gradually
D. benefited from Foster’s company
26. What did Foster learn from the experience?
A. The natural world offers many gifts.
B. Humans belong to the natural world.
C. The natural world never fails to impress.
D. Humans should protect the natural world.
C
Once small farmers in Masii, a remote village in Kenya, have picked their crops, all they can do is wait until a buyer trucks through. The system works fairly well for beans and corn, but mangoes—the area’s other main crop—spoil(腐烂) more quickly. If the trader is late, they rot.
Obadiah Kisaingu, a farmer in Masii, estimates 40% of the village’s mango crop is lost to spoilage. But a simple coating could change that. A company, SmartTech, has created a product that doubles the shelf life of fresh produce, enabling farmers like Kisaingu to access far-off, larger markets. More time for fresh produce on grocers’ shelves also means less food waste—a $2.6 trillion problem, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO).
James Rogers, CEO of SmartTech, who has a Ph. D in materials science, wanted to solve the problem for food much in the same way that oxide barriers preventing rust (锈) have achieved for steel. Fortunately, researchers have found when plants made the jump from water to land hundreds of millions of years ago, they developed cutin, a barrier which is made of fatty acids that link together to form a seal around the plant, helping keep water in.
The cutin was such a grand strategy that today you’ll still find it across the plant kingdom. Not that it’s exactly the same solution across the board: An orange can last longer than a strawberry not so much because of the thickness of its skin, but because of the difference in the arrangement of those cutin molecules (分子) on the surface. SmartTech’s challenge was first identifying the key components of cutin. After extensive trials, Rogers and his team developed a natural and tasteless protective coating from plant material—stems, leaves and skins. The product extends the sweet spot between ripening and rot. And best of all, the treated produce doesn’t require refrigeration.
SmartTech traveled a long road to get here. It was six years from launch before products applied with the substance were in stores. SmartTeeh-treated fruits and vegetables are already in large grocery chains in Europe and the U. S. and the company recently gained regulatory approval in several less developed countries in South America.
“SmartTech has huge potential to turn poor farmers in Africa into commercial farmers,” says Rogers. “That means more money in pockets, and more food in stomachs.” But whether the company can cost-effectively reach small farmers in far-off areas still remains a challenge.
27. The author mentions the small farmers in Kenya to _____________.
A. stress their need for preserving produce
B. show their difficulty in harvesting crops
C. evaluate their loss caused by slow transport
D. help express their wish to reach larger markets
28. What can we learn about SmartTech’s product?
A. It is financially supported by FAO.
B. It is intended to replace refrigeration.
C. It is designed to thicken produce’s skin.
D. It is based on plants’ own defence system.
29. What does James Rogers expect?
A. To profit farmers. B. To earn more money.
C. To produce more food. D. To expand grocery chains.
30. The main purpose of the passage is to _____________.
A. prove a theory B. promote a product
C. introduce a company D. present a technology
D
Elizabeth Spelke, a cognitive (认知的) psychologist at Harvard, has spent her career testing the world’s most complex learning system—the mind of a baby. Babies might seem like no match for artificial intelligence (AI). They are terrible at labeling images, hopeless at mining text, and awful at video games. Then again, babies can do things beyond the reach of any AI. By just a few months old, they’ve begun to grasp the foundations of language, such as grammar. They’ve started to understand how to adapt to unfamiliar situations.
Yet even experts like Spelke don’t understand precisely how babies—or adults, for that matter—learn. That gap points to a puzzle at the heart of modern artificial intelligence. We’re not sure what to aim for.
Consider one of the most impressive examples of AI, Alpha Zero, a programme that plays board games with superhuman skill. After playing thousands of games against itself at a super speed, and learning from winning positions, Alpha Zero independently discovered several famous chess strategies and even invented new ones. It certainly seems like a machine eclipsing human cognitive abilities. But Alpha Zero needs to play millions more games than a person during practice to learn a game. Most importantly, it cannot take what it has learned from the game and apply it to another area.
To some AI experts, that calls for a new approach. In a November research paper, Francois Chollet, a well-known AI engineer, argued that it’s misguided to measure machine intelligence just according to its skills at specific tasks. “Humans don’t start out with skills; they start out with a broad ability to acquire new skills,” he says. “What a strong human chess player is demonstrating is not only the ability to play chess, but the potential to fulfill any task of a similar difficulty.” Chollet posed a set of problems, each of which requires an AI programme to arrange colored squares on a grid (格栅) based on just a few prior examples. It’s not hard for a person. But modern machine-learning programmes—trained on huge amounts of data—cannot learn from so few examples.
Josh Tenenbaum, a professor in MIT’s Center for Brains, Minds & Machines, works closely with Spelke and uses insights from cognitive science as inspiration for his programmes. He says much of modern AI misses the bigger picture, comparing it to a cartoon about a two-dimensional world populated by simple geometrical(几何形的) people. AI programmes will need to learn in new ways—for example, by drawing causal inferences rather than simply finding patterns. “At some point—you know, if you’re intelligent—you realize maybe there’s something else out there,” he says.
31. Compared to an advanced AI programme, a baby might be better at _____________.
A. labeling images B. identifying locations
C. playing games D. making adjustments
32. What does the underlined word “eclipsing” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. Stimulating. B. Measuring.
C. Beating. D. Limiting.
33. Both Francois Chollet and Josh Tenenbaum may agree that _____________.
A. AI is good at finding similar patterns
B. AI should gain abilities with less training
C. AI lacks the ability of generalizing a skill
D. AI will match humans in cognitive ability
34. Which would be the best title for this passage?
A. What is exactly intelligence?
B. Why is modern AI advanced?
C. Where is human intelligence going?
D. How do humans tackle the challenge of AI?
第二节(共5小题;每小题2分,共10分)
根据短文内容,从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Most people admit extreme nervousness at even the thought of giving a speech. 35 Through speaking, we gain the power to share what we are thinking with others.
Actually, not only do most beginning speakers suffer anxiety at the thought of speaking in public, but even powerful speakers like Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt were nervous before speaking. 36 Some people tremble, sweat, and experience shortness of breath and increased heartbeat. As they go through their speech, they may be so preoccupied with themselves that they lose contact with the audience, jump back and forth from point to point, and on occasion forget what they have planned to say. 37 And they still go on to deliver a strong speech. The secret is not to get rid of all of your feelings but to learn to channel and control your nervousness.
Very few people are so bothered by anxiety that they are unable to proceed with the speech. 38 Why? Because you must be a little more aroused than usual to do your best. A bit of nervousness gets the adrenaline (肾上腺素) flowing—and that brings you to speaking readiness.
Many speakers worry that others will notice how nervous they are—and that makes them even more self-conscious and nervous. A young woman reported that she broke out at home before each speech. She was amazed when other students said to her, “You seem so calm when you speak.” 39 Once you realize that your audience does not perceive your nervousness to the degree that you imagine, you will remove one unnecessary source of anxiety.
The more experience you get in speaking, the better you become at coping with nervousness. As time goes on, you will come to find that having a group of people listening to you alone is a very satisfying experience.
A. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
B. In fact, it would be harmful if you were not nervous.
C. Try getting feedback from your listeners after a speech.
D. The difference in nervousness among people is a matter of degree.
E. Yet you must learn to cope with nervousness because speaking is important.
F. Others, however, may get butterflies in their stomachs and feel weak in the knees.
G. Perhaps the most important time for coping with nervousness is shortly before the speech.
第三部分:书面表达(共两节,32分)
第一节
阅读表达(共4小题;第1、2题各2分,第3题3分,第4题5分,共12分)
阅读下面短文,根据题目要求回答问题。
Fashion’s Melt Down
Throwaway culture is trashing the planet—but one young chemical engineer has her own way to turn it over.
Fast fashion has changed the way we dress. We buy more clothes, more often—but we wear them less. Alina Bassi, founder of Kleiderly, wants to give our clothing waste another chance at a useful life.
Bassi has always cared about the threat of climate change, but she actually started her career in the oil industry. After a few years, she landed at bio-bean, a startup that turned waste coffee grounds into products that could be burnt for heat and fuel. After a year, Bassi was keen to branch out—used coffee grounds are not the biggest threat facing the planet. Instead, she poured her efforts into tackling a much bigger global polluter: the fashion industry.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, we produce 100 billion items of clothing per year, and this is set to double by 2050. But they don’t last long enough to offset (抵消) the carbon cost of producing the material, creating the clothes, and then shipping them to customers. “It makes no sense that we have such a high carbon footprint for something so short-lived,” Bassi says.
Using the principles of a circular economy, Bassi has developed a low-energy, multi-stage process to turn clothing fibres into an alternative to oil-based plastic. This new plastic can then be used by manufacturers in their existing machines, so that your old T-shirts and jeans will become different products instead of clothes, such as clothing hangers, or even furniture.
Fashion companies have some other ways to reduce fashion waste, from creating clothes designed to last, to recycling the fabric to make more clothing. But “a problem this big needs multiple solutions,” Bassi says. “We think about the multiple lives of a product and how we can keep reusing it instead of letting it fall into landfills or incinerators (焚化炉),” she says.
40. Why did Bassi switch her focus to the fashion industry?
41. Please paraphrase the underlined sentence in your own words.
42. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
● Kleiderly can change old jackets and trousers into a new material, which can be used to make more clothing.
43. Please briefly present your own solution(s) to the throwaway problem in daily life.
(about 40 words)
第二节 (20分)
假设你是红星中学高三学生李华。你的英国笔友Jim来邮件,询问你如何利用博物馆资源促进学习。请你给Jim回一封电子邮件,内容包括:
1. 经历;
2. 感受。
注意:1. 词数100左右;
2. 开头和结尾已给出,不计入总词数。
Dear Jim,
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
【试题答案】
第一部分:知识运用(共两节,30分)
第一节
完形填空(共10小题;每小题1.5分,共15分)
1. B 2. A 3. C 4. D 5. B
6. A 7. D 8. C 9. D 10. B
第二节
语法填空(共10小题;每小题1.5分,共15分)
11. died 12. oldest 13. setting 14. weighs 15. who
16. to let 17. In 18. celebration 19. is held 20. where
第二部分:阅读理解(共两节,38分)
第一节 (共14小题;每小题2分,共28分)
21. B 22. B 23. D 24. A 25. C
26. B 27. A 28. D 29. A 30. D
31. D 32. C 33. C 34. A
第二节(共5小题;每小题2分,共10分)
35. E 36. D 37. F 38. B 39. C
第三部分:书面表达(共两节,32分)
第一节(12分)
40. Because it’s a much bigger global polluter.
41. There’s no point in paying such a high carbon cost for products that don’t last long./
We produce much CO2 while making and shipping clothes. We throw them away shortly after we buy them. It’s not right.
42.·Kleiderly can change old jackets and trousers into a new material, which can be used to make more clothing.
According to the passage, the new material can be used to make different products.
43. 略
第二节 (20分)
一、评分原则:
1. 本题总分为20分,按5个档次给分。
2. 评分时,先根据文章的内容和语言质量初步确定其档次,然后以该档次的要求来衡量,确定或调整档次,最后给分。
3. 评分时应考虑:内容是否完整,条理是否清楚,交际是否得休,语言是否准确。
4. 拼写、标点符号或书写影响内容表达时,应视其影响程度予以考虑。英、美拼写及词汇用法均可接受。
5. 词数少于80,从总分中减去1分。
二、各档次的给分范围和要求:
第一档 (18分~20分) | 完全完成了试题规定的任务。 ·内容完整; ·条理清楚; ·交际得体,表达时充分考虑到了交际需求; ·体现出较强的语言运用能力。 完全达到了预期写作目的。 |
第二档 (15分~17分) | 完全完成了试题规定的任务。 ·内容完整; ·条理较清楚; ·交际较得体,表达时考虑到了交际需求; ·体现出较好的语言运用能力。 达到了预期写作目的。 |
第三档 (12分~14分) | 基本完成了试题规定的任务。 ·内容基本完整; ·条理基本清楚; ·有交际意识; ·所用语法和词汇满足了任务的要求;语法或用词方面有一些错误, 但不影响理解。 基本达到了预期写作目的。 |
第四档 (6分~11分) | 未恰当完成试题规定的任务。 ·内容不完整; ·所用词汇有限,语法或用词方面的错误影响了对所写内容的理解。 未能清楚地传达信息。 |
第五档 (1分~5分) | 未完成试题规定的任务。 ·写了少量相关信息; ·语法或用词方面错误较多,严重影响了对所写内容的理解。 |
0分 | 未能传达任何信息;所写内容与要求无关。 |
三、参考范文:
Dear Jim,
I’m glad to hear from you. Personally, I find museums a great source of knowledge and beneficial lo study.
Actually, my classmates and I often go to museums and attend exhibitions of all kinds. Such visits have helped us gain access to excellent resources and fresh perspectives on different subjects.
Once, in order to better understand “Ancient Chinese Inventions” in the history class, my class went to China Science and Technology Museum. Viewing delicate exhibits and listening to the guide’s introduction, I was deeply impressed by the wisdom and creativity of ancient Chinese people.
Many museums also offer online shows or lectures nowadays. Visiting their websites proves to be a rewarding experience.
By the way, London is home to many fantastic museums. How do you make the most of them? Do write and tell me about it.
Yours,
Li Hua