精品解析：上海市上海交通大学附属中学2024-2025学年高二下学期期中考试英语试题

2024-2025学年第二学期 高二英语期中试卷 (满分150分，130分钟完成，答案一律写在答题纸上) 第一卷 I. Listening Comprehension (25’) Section A Directions: In Section A, you will hear ten short conversations between two speakers. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. The conversations and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a conversation and the question about it, read the four possible answers on your paper, and decide which one is the best answer to the question you have heard. 1. A. Coworkers B. Client and community worker C. Neighbors D. Patient and doctor 2. A. At the school gate B. At a department store C. At a crossroads D. At an airport 3. A. He owes the woman a favour B. This game level is rather easy C. He doesn’t like playing video games D. The woman should ask somebody else 4. A. It requires work-life balance B. It is hard to carry out C. It needs more discussing D. It is favourable. 5. A. Why her son wants to go out B. How her son has performed in his test C. Whether her son has finished his homework. D. When her son doubled-checked his assignments. 6. A. She knows a lot about Thai food. B. She has never tried Thai food before. C. She loves Thai food for its rich flavors. D. She dislikes Thai food because it’s spicy. 7. A. He is quite interested in the club. B. He wonders what activities the club will do. C. He has designed an experiment for the club. D He is surprised that the woman will join the club. 8. A. The players are great B. They have a good coach C. She used to be a team member D. She wants to improve her skills 9. A. It is almost done B. It has been submitted C. He will add some numbers to it D. He needs the woman’s help with it 10. A. To monitor her improvement B. To ensure her safety C. To encourage her in words D. To show her how to lift a weight Section B Directions: In Section B, you will hear two short passages and one longer conversation, and you will be asked several questions on each of the passages and the conversation. The passages and the conversation will be read twice, but the questions will be spoken only once. When you hear a question, read the four possible answers on your paper and decide which one would be the best answer to the question you have heard. Questions 11 through 13 are based on the following passage. 11. A. Why there are 24 time zones B. How important sun times were C. How time zones came into being D. Why sun times varies from time to time 12. A. The long distance between towns. B. The development of rail transport. C. The moving of the sun from east to west. D. The establishment of a world committee. 13. A. It was where the rail system started. B. It was where the calendar date shifted. C. It was where the International Date Line was. D. It was where the center of the first time zone was. Questions 14 through 16 are based on the following passage. 14. A. A protein might help reduce anxiety. B. A protein is regarded as a cause of anxiety. C. A protein helps brain cells grow more quickly. D. A protein is found to be a sure way to cure anxiety. 15. A. They removed a part of the brain. B. They fed them with neurotrophin-3 directly. C. They put the monkeys in threatening situations. D. They used a virus to increase neurotrophin-3 levels. 16. A. They draw too much attention B. They are not as common as thought. C. They have been treated in effective ways. D. They make many people unable to go to work. Questions 17 through 20 are based on the following conversation. 17. A. Super cold seawaters B. The ruins of an ancient ship C. Icefish nests on the ocean floor D. A new species of deep-sea creatures 18. A. It was a chance discovery B. It was a long-awaited discovery C. The discovery was made by divers D. The discovery was made by satellites 19. A. Around 17,000 eggs are laid by one fish. B. Icefish stock their food under the sea floor. C. The dads are responsible for protecting the nests. D. Icefish can survive in both warm and cold waters. 20. A. They doubt its significance. B. They think it needs more evidence. C. They find it incredible and fascinating. D. They believe it is an overestimated finding. II. Vocabulary (10’) Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need. A. avoid B. drift C. regulated D. catch E. drive F. disorientation G. implications H. recharge I fragmented J. alertness K. bank You’re in the middle of the afternoon, eyelids heavy, focus slipping. You close your eyes for half an hour and wake up feeling recharged. But later that night, you’re tossing and turning in bed, wondering why you can’t ___1___ off. That midday snooze which felt so refreshing at the time might be the reason. Naps have long been praised as a tool for boosting alertness, enhancing mood, strengthening memory, and improving productivity. Yet for some, they can sabotage nighttime sleep. Napping is a double-edged sword. Done right, it’s a powerful way to ___2___ the brain, improve concentration, and support mental and physical health. Done wrong, it can leave you groggy disoriented, and struggling to fall asleep later. The key lies in understanding how the body regulates sleep and wakefulness. Most people experience a natural dip in ___3___ in the early afternoon, typically between 1 pm and 4 pm. This isn’t just due to a heavy lunch—our internal body clock, or circadian rhythm, creates cycles of wakefulness and tiredness throughout the day. The early afternoon lull is part of this rhythm, which is why so many people feel drowsy at that time. Studies suggest that a short nap during this period—ideally followed by bright light exposure—can help counteract fatigue, boost alertness, and improve cognitive function without interfering with nighttime sleep. These “power naps” allow the brain to rest without slipping into deep sleep, making it easier to wake up feeling refreshed. But there’s a(n) ___4___: Napping too long may result in waking up feeling dizzier than before. This is due to “sleep inertia”—the grogginess and ___5___ that comes from waking up during deeper sleep stages. Once a nap extends beyond 30 minutes the brain transitions into slow-wave sleep, making it much harder to wake up. Studies show that waking from deep sleep can leave people feeling sluggish for up to an hour. This can have serious ___6___ if they then try to perform safety-critical tasks, make important decisions, or operate machinery, for example. And if a nap is taken too late in the day, it can eat away from the “sleep pressure build-up”—the body’s natural ___7___ for sleep—making it harder to fall asleep at night. For some, napping is essential. Shift workers often struggle with ___8___ sleep due to irregular schedules, and a well-timed nap before a night shift can boost alertness and reduce the risk of errors and accidents. Similarly, people who regularly struggle to get enough sleep at night—whether due to work, parenting, or other demands—may benefit from naps to ___9___ extra hours of sleep that compensate for their sleep loss. Nonetheless, relying on naps instead of improving nighttime sleep is a short-term fix rather than a sustainable solution. People with chronic insomnia are often advised to ___10___ naps entirely, as daytime sleep can sap their desire to sleep at night. Certain groups use strategic napping as a performance-enhancing tool. Athletes incorporate napping into their training schedules to speed up muscle recovery and improve sports-related parameters such as reaction times and endurance. III. Reading Comprehension Section A Cloze (15’) Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context. Burning oil, gas, and coal — literal fossil fuels, made from the compressed remains of ancient plants and plankton — has released carbon into Earth’s atmosphere, where it traps heat and alters the climate. That ___11___ has caused massive destruction and loss of life, and it will continue to do so. As a result, carbon came to be seen as something to “fight,” and “capture.” Nevertheless, Paul Hawken, the author of the new book Carbon: The Book of Life, argues that such carbon-reduction movement is thinking about its work, and messaging, all ___12___. “Those who call carbon a pollutant might want to lay down their word processor,” Hawken writes. Carbon, he notes, is after all the building block of life, the animating force behind trees, rhinos, eyelashes, hormones, bamboo, and so much more. Without it, Earth would just be a lonely, dead rock. So much for decarbonizing. Hawken has come to believe that treating carbon as something to tackle and reduce not only reflects the same mindset that caused unnecessary climate anxiety in the first place, but also further ___13___ people from the living world. There is no “climate crisis,” he argues, but a crisis of human thinking and behavior that’s degrading the soil, ___14___ entire species, and changing the weather faster than people can adapt. “From a planetary view,” he writes in Carbon, “the warming atmosphere is a response, an adjustment, a teaching.” The book records a ___15___ in his thinking. In 2017, Hawken published Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, a book that ranked 100 climate solutions by how much they could reduce carbon emissions, from refrigerant leaks to food waste. The nonprofit Project Drawdown, which he launched, continues to ___16___ these kinds of fixes around the world. But now, Hawken is forgoing straightforward metrics to focus on what he sees as a deeper cultural problem. “The living world is a complex interactive system and doesn’t lend itself to ___17___ solutions,” he said, “we need to conduct more in-depth analysis”. The new book frames carbon as a flow — a ___18___ that moves through the atmosphere, oceans, soil, with the element ___19___ by growing plants during daytime and exhaled back out through every animal breath. Hawken’s book is a lesson in what’s sometimes called “unlearning,” or letting go of old assumptions, like the idea that nature is something to fix or ____20____. The book explores ways to repair a broken relationship with the natural world, drawing inspiration from indigenous cultures and new scientific discoveries. Hawken ____21____ at how much remains unknown about carbon, which he calls with awe “the most mysterious element of all.” The book’s poetic language offers a stark contrast to the warlike terms climate advocates tend to use to describe carbon. Hawken argues that the typical metaphors of those advocates are not only ____22____ — how exactly do you battle an element? — but also provide fuel for unfair narratives of carbon. Last week, E&E News reported that the administration is planning a federal report making the case that a warming world would be a good thing, a pretext for ____23____ climate regulations. “Carbon dioxide is not an evil gas,” David Legates, a former Trump official, said in a recent video put out by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank. “____24____, it’s a gas beneficial to life on Earth. It’ll increase temperatures slightly, and warmer temperatures are certainly better than colder temperatures.” Hawken wants a broad shift in how people talk about the natural world, though, not just a rethinking of the climate movement’s metaphors. He points out that the terms used in scientific reports and global climate conferences creates a sense of detachment that ____25____ the living things it refers to. Hawken describes the word “biodiversity” as just “a bloodless term”. While Hawken’s radical opinions have gained some followers, they have sparkled greater criticism and doubt in the whole society. 11. A. progress B. domain C. liberation D. process 12. A. groundless B. valid C. precise D. distinctive 13. A. assimilate B. distance C. bond D. release 14. A. living off B. accounting for C. contributing to D. wiping out 15. A. shift B. dimension C. sophistication D. integrity 16. A. generate B. implement C. motion D. flutter 17. A. inevitable B. simple C. navigable D. intricate 18. A. motive B. friction C. ritual D. cycle 19. A. released B. absorbed C. transformed D. formatted 20. A. control B. admire C. facilitate D. quantify 21. A. targets B. revolves C. marvels D. rebels 22. A. inaccurate B. exact C. insightful D. virtuous 23. A. intensifying B. reinforcing C. formulating D. weakening 24. A. Subsequently B. Furthermore C. Consequently D. Rather 25. A. dulls B. invigorates C. enlightens D. restrains Section B (22’) Directions: Read the following four passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read. (A) The Painting Fool is one of a growing number of computer programs which, as their makers claim, possess creative talents. Classical music by an artificial composer has had audiences enraptured, and even tricked them into believing a human was behind the score. Artworks painted by a robot have sold for thousands of dollars and been hung in prestigious galleries. And software has been built which creates art that could not have been imagined by the programmer. Human beings are the only species to perform sophisticated creative acts regularly. If we can break this process down into computer code, where does that leave human creativity? ‘This is a question at the very core of humanity,’ says Geraint Wiggins, a computational creativity researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London. ‘It scares a lot of people. They are worried that it is taking something special away from what it means to be human.’ To some extent, we are all familiar with computerized art. The question is: where does the work of the artist stop and the creativity of the computer begin? Consider one of the oldest machine artists, Aaron, a robot that has had paintings exhibited in London’s Tate Modern and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Aaron can pick up a paintbrush and paint on canvas on its own. Impressive perhaps, but it is still little more than a tool to realize the programmer’s own creative ideas. Simon Colton, the designer of the Painting Fool, is keen to make sure his creation doesn’t attract the same criticism. Unlike earlier ‘artists’ such as Aaron, the Painting Fool only needs minimal direction and can come up with its own concepts by going online for material. The software runs its own web searches and trawls through social media sites. It is now beginning to display a kind of imagination too, creating pictures from scratch. One of its original works is a series of fuzzy landscapes, depicting trees and sky. While some might say they have a mechanical look, Colton argues that such reactions arise from people’s double standards towards software-produced and human-produced art. After all, he says, consider that the Painting Fool painted the landscapes without referring to a photo. ‘If a child painted a new scene from its head, you’d say it has a certain level of imagination,’ he points out. ‘The same should be true of a machine.’ Software bugs can also lead to unexpected results. Some of the Painting Fool’s paintings of a chair came out in black and white, thanks to a technical glitch. This gives the work an eerie, ghostlike quality. Human artists like the renowned Ellsworth Kelly are lauded for limiting their color palette-so why should computers be any different? 26. What is the writer suggesting about computer-produced works in the first paragraph? A. People’s acceptance of them can vary considerably. B. A great deal of progress has already been attained in this field. C. They have had more success in some artistic genres than in others. D. The advances are not as significant as the public believes them to be. 27. According to Geraint Wiggins, why are many people worried by computer art? A. It is aesthetically inferior to human art. B. It may ultimately supersede human art. C. It undermines a fundamental human quality. D. It will lead to a deterioration in human ability. 28 What is a key difference between Aaron and the Painting Fool? A. Its programmer’s background. B. Public response to its work. C. The source of its subject matter. D. The technical standard of its output. 29. What point does Simon Colton make in the fourth paragraph? A. Software-produced art is often dismissed as childish and simplistic. B. The same concepts of creativity should not be applied to all forms of art. C. It is unreasonable to expect a machine to be as imaginative as a human being. D. People tend to judge computer art and human art according to different criteria. (B) Join a Project There are many opportunities to become a citizen scientist in national parks. Check out some park-sponsored projects below. You can find additional projects on external sites like SciStarter.com and CitizenScience.gov. And if you're accustomed to using programs like eBird or iNaturalist, you can continue to do so in any national park, even on your own. What can you do as a citizen scientist in a national park? Most likely you’ll collect data and upload them to a database. In some cases, you can explore, graph, and analyze data. If the project is new, you may be able to make suggestions about study design or procedures. In all cases, you will learn and experience real science. And you'll do it in the places you love. Acadia National Park (ME) Sundew Phenology Trail Purpose: Monitor phenology (seasonal timing) of trees, plants, and shrubs in coastal Maine to help the park understand long-term trends. Activities: Use Nature's Notebook mobile app to record and upload phenological stages of specific plants. Location & Timing: Participate in the park; spring, summer and fall every year. Requirements: Anyone can participate, young children should be supervised by adults; training is provided. To Participate: Groups enroll in park’s residential education programming; individuals enroll in park’s public programs. Denali National Park and Preserve (AK) Snowshoe Hare Pellet Plot Project Purpose: Estimate the population density of snowshoe hares on an annual basis. Activities: Volunteers count snowshoe hare fecal pellets (粪球) at established plots within the park. Location & Timing: Participate in the park; June- August every year. Requirements: Must be a teen or adult, or part of a school/organization group; training is provided. Volunteers must be able to take difficult hikes in the backcountry, spend time on hands and knees, and follow verbal instructions. To Participate: Email to express interest. Homestead National Historical Park (NE) Black Homesteading Project Purpose: Reveal the history of Black homesteaders who obtained titles for about 650,000 acres of prairie land from the General Land Office in the 1870s-1930s. Activities: Online volunteers will transcribe original historical documents into digital formats so they can be shared with scholars and the public worldwide. Location & Timing: Online, no time restrictions. Requirements: Stable Internet connection. Open to adults, teens, and families. To Participate: Please sign up through the Federal Government's volunteer page: Volunteer I Opportunity Detail Rocky Mountain National Park (CO) Lily Lake Phenology Project Purpose: Monitor seasonal changes (phenology) of plants and animals at Lily Lake to help the park understand long-term trends. Activities: Record observations of plants and animals using the mobile app Survey 123. Location & Timing: Participate in the park, year- round. Best opportunities are April-October. Requirements: Must be a teen or adult. No special training is required. Participants need a mobile device. To Participate: See the project website to download the data collection form and Instructions to your mobile device. 30. Which of the following is TRUE about a citizen science project? A. Joining citizen scientist project is an essential step to become a real scientist. B. A citizen scientist is an expert at exploring, graphing, and analyzing data, C. The participants’ main responsibility is to generate and develop new ideas for a project. D. The project helps spread scientific knowledge through public participation in scientific research. 31. Which project does not require the use of digital devices? A. Sundew Phenology Trail B. Black Homesteading Project C. Snowshoe Hare Pellet Plot Project D. Lily Lake Phenology Project 32. The Green Sprout Primary School is planning a summer camp to arouse students’ interest in scientific research, which national park offers the most proper activity for their students? A. Acadia National Park B. Denali National Park and Preserve C. Homestead National Historical Park D. Rocky Mountain National Park (C) Prior to the beginning of the Late Preclassic period in 300 B.C., Maya ceremonial centers of relatively substantial size had already appeared in Central America. The ceremonial center was a distinctive feature of Maya culture, acting as a focus for the community. Generally speaking, these centers were not what we would call cities. Although they did consist of a number of large and varied buildings, they did not have a substantial resident population. Some scholars have even labeled these Maya centers “vacant towns”. Their permanent population consisted mainly of rulers, priests, and their attendants plus a limited number of artisans. The elite lived in big houses or in palaces in and around the center. The bulk of the peasant population lived in much more modest wood and thatch homes in the areas surrounding the centers. At certain times of the year, on the occasion of major religious festivals such as the one at the time of the planting of their crops, scholars hypothesize, by analogy to historical and modern practices, that the peasants would flock to the centers to observe and participate in the ceremonies. At other times of the year, some of the peasants would be called into the centers to help in the construction of new temples and palaces dedicated to the glory of the gods and to the comforts of their earthly representatives, the priestly rulers. The peasants also would provide the food to help sustain the elite in the centers. What the peasants received from the elite was certainly not as tangible as the services they provided. In return for food and labor, the peasants were offered a psychologically and spiritually secure and ordered world, as well as access to some trade goods. Apparently, this was enough. Agriculture in the tropical Maya lowlands was at best a chancy business: even slight shifts in the onset of the rainy season or the dry season could mean disaster for that year’s harvest. The religion of the ancient Maya helped the peasants cope with their precarious lives. If the gods were properly propitiated, the crops would be good—as would life in general. One archaeologist, William Haviland, argues that it was the centralizing effects of Maya religion that led to the rise of Classic Maya civilization. He believes that the religious centers acted as magnets to peoples living in the surrounding areas. To support the growing populations around the centers, Haviland argues, the agricultural systems became intensified. This led to the evolution of a complex state. Haviland believes that as early as 200 B.C., the “vacant” ceremonial centers at Tikal had begun transformation toward urban centers. Moreover, by this time or even earlier, other centers with huge, labor-intensive buildings had begun to emerge. Sites such as Nakbé, El Mirador, and Lamanai may have approached urban dimensions in the last few centuries of the first millennium B.C. Other scholars attribute the growth of the ceremonial centers to trade. William Rathje argues that the basic cause for the rise of Maya civilization was the necessity for the Maya, who lived in resource-poor lowlands, to trade with adjacent highlanders for materials such as obsidian (a rock used to make ornaments and cutting edges), salt, and hard stone for grinding implements. Rathje maintains that lowland sites such as Tikal, which were quite distant from the highland resource areas, were made bigger and architecturally magnificent to attract highland merchants and their trade. In order to undertake all the building, the elite had to attract more artisans and bring more laborers into the community to do the work. These population increases led in turn to even more building, population growth, greater population density, greater social differentiation, and occupational specialization. Critics have argued, however, that there were local substitutes for the external “necessities” and that foreign trade was present well before the rise of complex architecture. Yet other factors beyond ideology and trade must have been important in the emerging Classic Maya civilization. Competition among the growing number of centers may also have played a key role in the growth of social, economic, and political complexity, as the organization of the centers grew to meet the pressures of other centers for new agricultural land and control of rising populations. 33. According to paragraph 1, what important feature of cities did Maya ceremonial centers lack? A. Large, varied buildings. B. A large, permanent population. C. Distinctions between social classes. D. Religious temples. 34. According to paragraph 2, which of the following did the Maya elite provide for the peasants? A. Food for nourishment. B. Homes to live in. C. Security from the threats of other civilizations. D. A stable system of beliefs. 35. The word “precarious” in the passage is closest in meaning to ________ A. insecure B. difficult C. restricted D. unsatisfying 36. According to paragraph 4, what is the dispute between William Rathje and his critics? A. Whether a need to import obsidian, salt, and grinding stone can explain the growth of ceremonial centers. B. Whether people in the lowlands communities traded with people in the adjacent highlands. C. Whether obsidian was to be found in lowland areas such as Tikal that were distant from the highlands. D. Whether the development of ceremonial centers was characterized by complex architecture. Section C (8’) Directions: Read the passage carefully. 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. It seemed a notably strange coincidence that the day after the Chronicle of Higher Education’s fascinating article about foreign-language acquisition and its remarkable contributions to the human mind and to society, Inside Higher Ed reported that George Washington University’s arts and sciences faculty had voted by an “overwhelming” margin not only to remove its foreign languages and cultures course requirement, but also to set up the new requirements in such a way that introductory foreign language courses can no longer count toward fulfilling any degree requirement in the college. ___37___. One wonders how “global perspectives” can happen without foreign language. But Catherine Porter (a former president of the Modern Language Association), writing in the Chronicle, puts it rather more bluntly. The lack of foreign-language learning in our society, she states, is “a devastating waste of potential.” Students who learn languages at an early age “consistently display enhanced cognitive abilities relative to their monolingual peers.” ___38___ Porter believes: “Demands that the language-learning process makes on the brain make the brain more flexible and incite it to discover new patterns-and thus to create and maintain more circuits.” ___39___ My own journey in languages is something for which I cannot claim any real foresight or deliberate intention, but by the age of 16, I spoke English, Hungarian, and French fluently. I’ve managed, through travel and personal and family connections, to maintain all three. One thing I know for sure is that when I get on the phone with my mother and talk to her in Hungarian for 20 minutes, or if I have to type out an email to a friend in Paris, afterwards I feel like I’ve had a mental jog on the treadmill: strangely energized, brain-stretched, more ready for any challenge, whether it’s cooking a new dish or drafting a paper. And the connective cultural tissue created by deep immersion in another language cannot be overstated. When I went to Hungary during grad school to research my thesis, I figured: no problem, it’s my native tongue. Yes, but I first learned it when I was a toddler, and never since then. ___40___ Time and again, I’ve realized how language can transform our interactions with one another. Porter’s article is a wake-up call that neglecting foreign-language learning is hurting our country in more ways than we realize. A. This isn’t about being able to impress their parents’ friends by piping up in Chinese at the dinner table — the research is showing that these kids can think better. B. Porter points out, as many others have, that in diplomatic, military, professional and commercial contexts, being monolingual is a significant handicap. C. One of Porter’s most interesting observations, according to my experience, was about how multilingualism enhances “brain fitness”. D. In short, making the United States a more multilingual society would carry with it untold benefits. E. The amount of preparation I had to do to be sure I didn’t miss small details or cultural cues and didn’t draw conclusions based on inaccurate translation, was significant, but well worth it. F. At the same time, this curricular reform is apparently “designed to promote student learning in areas such as global perspectives and oral communications”. *IV. Grammar (20’) (A) 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. Traditionally, Yupik families spent the spring and summer at fish camp, and then joined with others at village sites for the winter. Edible greens and berries ___41___ (grow) profusely in the summer, and there are numerous birch and spruce trees in the region. In contrast to the Northern Eskimos who built igloos (冰屋) for shelter, the Yupik used trees and driftwood ___42___ (build) permanent winter homes, separate buildings for the men and the women. The men’s communal house, the qasgiq, was the community center for ceremonies and festivals which included singing, dancing, and storytelling. The qasgiq was used mainly in the winter months ___43___ people would travel in family groups following food sources throughout the spring, summer, and fall months. Aside from ceremonies and festivals, it was also ___44___ the men taught the young boys survival and hunting skills, as well as other life lessons. The young boys were also taught how to make tools and qayaqs (kayaks) during the winter months. The women’s houses, the ena, were smaller made of sod. They ___45___ (locate) next to the gasgiq, and in some areas they were connected by a tunnel. Women taught the young girls how to sew, cook, and weave. Boys would live with their mothers ___46___ they were about five years old, then they would live in the qasgiq. Each winter, from anywhere between three to six weeks, the young boys and young girls would exchange, with the men teaching the girls survival and hunting skills and toolmaking and the women teaching the boys how to sew and cook. The winter building of Siberian Yupik, called yaranga, was a round, dome-shaped building, with a framework made of posts. In the middle of the twentieth century, ___47___ (follow) external influence, canvas was used to cover the framework. The yaranga was surrounded by sod or planking at the lower part. There was another smaller building ___48___ it, used for sleeping and living. Household works were done in the room ___49___ (surround) this inner building, and also many household utensils were stored there. At night and during winter storms the dogs were brought inside the outer part of the building. Villages consisted of groups of as many as 300 persons, tied together by blood and marriage. Marriage could take place _____50_____ members of the immediate village, but remained with the larger regional group, as the regional groups were often at war with each other. (B) 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. People of every culture tell each other fairy tales and the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. The universal appeal of these fantastical tales is frequently owed ___51___ the idea that they contain warning messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, not wander away from the path, and avoid talking to strangers. “It ___52___ be what we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant information in it,” says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. ___53___ his research suggests otherwise. By exploring how fairy tales have changed and evolved as they spread between cultures, he believes he has discovered what truly makes them appealing. His analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many guises (变体), which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. ___54___ (Explore) academic collections for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story change least ___55___ it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that events are more central to the story than characters; however, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of events compared with ___56___ of characters. “Certain events are very stable because we recognize them as being crucial to the story but there are lots of other details that can evolve quite freely,” he says. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the middle section of a story is ___57___ (conserved) part. He found no significant difference in the flexibility of events at the beginning, middle and end. But the really big surprise came when he looked at the warning elements of the story. In his analysis, such elements were just as flexible as seemingly unimportant details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation? The answer, it would appear, is horror: horrifying aspects of the story turned out to be the best preserved of all. In many European versions, for example, the wolf feeds Red Riding Hood a meal made from the remains of her grandmother. “There’s this brilliant Italian one ___58___ the wolf says there’s some tortellini (意式饺子), but of course those are her grandmother’s ears,” says Tehrani. In East Asian variants, a group of sisters spend the night in bed with a tiger and awake ___59___ (hear) it eating the bones of the youngest one. “Those kinds of features are very common in lots of versions of the story,” says Tehrani. Why are these details treated with such respect by generations of storytellers, when other features are readily substituted? Tehrani has an idea: “In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not necessarily a great storyteller.” Maybe dining on the remains of a relative is so fascinating that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it ____60____ (tell). V. Summary Writing (10’) 61 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. The quality of our daily lives is deeply influenced by our sleep patterns. Among its many functions, sleep plays a particularly vital role in cognitive performance and brain health. Sleep is critical for memory consolidation and neural maintenance. During sleep, the brain processes and organizes information gathered throughout the day, transferring short-term memories into long-term storage. Research from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) reveals that deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep, is essential for synaptic pruning—a process where unnecessary neural connections are eliminated, while important ones are strengthened. This mechanism enhances learning efficiency and problem-solving abilities. Additionally, the glymphatic system, a waste-clearing network in the brain, becomes highly active during sleep, flushing out toxins like beta-amyloid, which is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, insufficient sleep disrupts these processes, impairing cognitive function and increasing the risk of neurodegenerative disorders. Sleep is indispensable for cognitive health due to the sheer amount of time humans spend sleeping over a lifetime. The average person sleeps for about one-third of their life—approximately 25 years or more. Even minor sleep deficits accumulate over time, leading to significant impacts on attention, creativity, and emotional regulation. For instance, a study published in “Nature” found that losing just 1-2 hours of sleep per night for a week can impair cognitive performance as severely as going without sleep for 24 hours. Chronic sleep deprivation in early adulthood has also been linked to reduced brain volume in regions responsible for decision-making and emotional control. Given that many individuals, especially students and professionals, sacrifice sleep for work or leisure, the long-term consequences on brain health cannot be overlooked. Renowned sleep researcher Dr. Matthew Walker emphasizes that society must prioritize sleep not as a luxury, but as a necessity. In his book “Why We Sleep”, he argues: “Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day. It is a non-negotiable biological requirement, not an optional lifestyle choice.” Adopting this mindset could transform how we structure our daily routines, ensuring that sleep is treated with the same importance as diet and exercise. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *VI. Translation (3’+3’+4’+5’=15’) Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets. 62. 失业后，他只能勉强维持生计，通过当司机赚点小钱。(subsistence) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ 63. 这位艺术家选择为创作自由牺牲了经济稳定，蜗居三层砖房的一间小工作室里。(sacrifice) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ 64. 正如曼德拉（Mandela）所言，“教育是最强大武器”，这一真理至今仍在激励全球推动社会公平的运动。(put) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ 65. 凝望着窗外攀附在老墙上的常春藤，他突然有了故事的灵感：生命纵然在废墟中也要坚守，哪怕一切看似无望。(hit) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ VII. Guided Writing 66. Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese. 假设你是某社区居民李华。最近，社区计划在小区中央的绿地上修建一个儿童游乐场，但部分居民反对，认为这会带来许多问题或争议。社区居委会决定召开居民会议讨论此事，请你写一封邮件给居委会主任，表达你的意见并提出建议。 要求： 1.说明可能存在的问题或争议； 2.提出合理的解决方案并阐述理由。 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 第1页/共1页 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $$ 2024-2025学年第二学期 高二英语期中试卷 (满分150分，130分钟完成，答案一律写在答题纸上) 第一卷 I. Listening Comprehension (25’) Section A Directions: In Section A, you will hear ten short conversations between two speakers. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. The conversations and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a conversation and the question about it, read the four possible answers on your paper, and decide which one is the best answer to the question you have heard. 1. A. Coworkers B. Client and community worker C. Neighbors D. Patient and doctor 2. A. At the school gate B. At a department store C. At a crossroads D. At an airport 3. A. He owes the woman a favour B. This game level is rather easy C. He doesn’t like playing video games D. The woman should ask somebody else 4. A. It requires work-life balance B. It is hard to carry out C. It needs more discussing D. It is favourable. 5. A. Why her son wants to go out B. How her son has performed in his test C. Whether her son has finished his homework. D. When her son doubled-checked his assignments. 6. A. She knows a lot about Thai food. B. She has never tried Thai food before. C She loves Thai food for its rich flavors. D. She dislikes Thai food because it’s spicy. 7. A. He is quite interested in the club. B. He wonders what activities the club will do. C. He has designed an experiment for the club. D. He is surprised that the woman will join the club. 8. A. The players are great B. They have a good coach C. She used to be a team member D. She wants to improve her skills 9. A. It is almost done B. It has been submitted C. He will add some numbers to it D. He needs the woman’s help with it 10. A. To monitor her improvement B. To ensure her safety C. To encourage her in words D. To show her how to lift a weight Section B Directions: In Section B, you will hear two short passages and one longer conversation, and you will be asked several questions on each of the passages and the conversation. The passages and the conversation will be read twice, but the questions will be spoken only once. When you hear a question, read the four possible answers on your paper and decide which one would be the best answer to the question you have heard. Questions 11 through 13 are based on the following passage. 11. A. Why there are 24 time zones B. How important sun times were C. How time zones came into being D. Why sun times varies from time to time 12. A. The long distance between towns. B. The development of rail transport. C. The moving of the sun from east to west. D. The establishment of a world committee. 13. A. It was where the rail system started. B. It was where the calendar date shifted. C. It was where the International Date Line was. D. It was where the center of the first time zone was. Questions 14 through 16 are based on the following passage. 14. A. A protein might help reduce anxiety. B. A protein is regarded as a cause of anxiety. C. A protein helps brain cells grow more quickly. D. A protein is found to be a sure way to cure anxiety. 15. A. They removed a part of the brain. B. They fed them with neurotrophin-3 directly. C. They put the monkeys in threatening situations. D. They used a virus to increase neurotrophin-3 levels. 16. A. They draw too much attention B. They are not as common as thought. C. They have been treated in effective ways. D. They make many people unable to go to work. Questions 17 through 20 are based on the following conversation. 17. A. Super cold seawaters B. The ruins of an ancient ship C. Icefish nests on the ocean floor D. A new species of deep-sea creatures 18. A. It was a chance discovery B. It was a long-awaited discovery C. The discovery was made by divers D. The discovery was made by satellites 19. A. Around 17,000 eggs are laid by one fish. B. Icefish stock their food under the sea floor. C. The dads are responsible for protecting the nests. D. Icefish can survive in both warm and cold waters. 20. A. They doubt its significance. B. They think it needs more evidence. C. They find it incredible and fascinating. D. They believe it is an overestimated finding. II. Vocabulary (10’) Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need. A. avoid B. drift C. regulated D. catch E. drive F. disorientation G. implications H. recharge I. fragmented J. alertness K. bank You’re in the middle of the afternoon, eyelids heavy, focus slipping. You close your eyes for half an hour and wake up feeling recharged. But later that night, you’re tossing and turning in bed, wondering why you can’t ___1___ off. That midday snooze which felt so refreshing at the time might be the reason. Naps have long been praised as a tool for boosting alertness, enhancing mood, strengthening memory, and improving productivity. Yet for some, they can sabotage nighttime sleep. Napping is a double-edged sword. Done right, it’s a powerful way to ___2___ the brain, improve concentration, and support mental and physical health. Done wrong, it can leave you groggy disoriented, and struggling to fall asleep later. The key lies in understanding how the body regulates sleep and wakefulness. Most people experience a natural dip in ___3___ in the early afternoon, typically between 1 pm and 4 pm. This isn’t just due to a heavy lunch—our internal body clock, or circadian rhythm, creates cycles of wakefulness and tiredness throughout the day. The early afternoon lull is part of this rhythm, which is why so many people feel drowsy at that time. Studies suggest that a short nap during this period—ideally followed by bright light exposure—can help counteract fatigue, boost alertness, and improve cognitive function without interfering with nighttime sleep. These “power naps” allow the brain to rest without slipping into deep sleep, making it easier to wake up feeling refreshed. But there’s a(n) ___4___: Napping too long may result in waking up feeling dizzier than before. This is due to “sleep inertia”—the grogginess and ___5___ that comes from waking up during deeper sleep stages. Once a nap extends beyond 30 minutes, the brain transitions into slow-wave sleep, making it much harder to wake up. Studies show that waking from deep sleep can leave people feeling sluggish for up to an hour. This can have serious ___6___ if they then try to perform safety-critical tasks, make important decisions, or operate machinery, for example. And if a nap is taken too late in the day, it can eat away from the “sleep pressure build-up”—the body’s natural ___7___ for sleep—making it harder to fall asleep at night. For some, napping is essential. Shift workers often struggle with ___8___ sleep due to irregular schedules, and a well-timed nap before a night shift can boost alertness and reduce the risk of errors and accidents. Similarly, people who regularly struggle to get enough sleep at night—whether due to work, parenting, or other demands—may benefit from naps to ___9___ extra hours of sleep that compensate for their sleep loss. Nonetheless, relying on naps instead of improving nighttime sleep is a short-term fix rather than a sustainable solution. People with chronic insomnia are often advised to ___10___ naps entirely, as daytime sleep can sap their desire to sleep at night. Certain groups use strategic napping as a performance-enhancing tool. Athletes incorporate napping into their training schedules to speed up muscle recovery and improve sports-related parameters such as reaction times and endurance. 【答案】1. B 2. H 3. J 4. D 5. F 6. G 7. E 8. I 9. K 10. A 【解析】 【导语】本文是一篇说明文，主要探讨了午睡对人们的影响，包括其利弊以及如何正确午睡。 【1题详解】 考查动词。句意：但当晚晚些时候，你在床上辗转反侧，想知道为什么睡不着。由前面“you’re tossing and turning in bed, wondering why you can’t”可知，此处表示“你在床上辗转反侧，想知道为什么睡不着”，空格处意为“入睡”，是固定短语drift off，can’t是情态动词，空格处用原形，因此空格处是drift，故选B。 【2题详解】 考查不定式。句意：如果做得好，这是一种给大脑充电、提高注意力、支持身心健康有效方法。由后面“the brain, improve concentration, and support mental and physical health”可知，此处表示“这是一种给大脑充电、提高注意力、支持身心健康的有效方法”，空格处意为“给……充电”，是recharge，way后用不定式作后置定语，因此空格处用原形，故选H。 【3题详解】 考查名词。句意：大多数人在下午早些时候（通常在下午1点到4点之间）的警觉性会自然下降。由下文“typically between 1 pm and 4 pm”和“The early afternoon lull is part of this rhythm, which is why so many people feel drowsy at that time”可知，此处表示“大多数人在下午早些时候（通常在下午1点到4点之间）的警觉性会下降”，空格处意为“警觉性”，是名词alertness，是不可数名词，作宾语。故选J。 【4题详解】 考查名词。句意：但有一个问题：睡得太久可能会导致醒来时感觉比以前更头晕。由“Napping too long may result in waking up feeling dizzier than before”可知，此处表示“睡得太久可能会导致醒来时感觉比以前更头晕，这是一个问题或隐患”，空格处意为“问题或隐患”，是catch，空前有a，空格处用单数，做主语。故选D。 【5题详解】 考查名词。句意：这是由于“睡眠惯性”——在深度睡眠阶段醒来时产生的昏昏沉沉和迷失方向。由上文““sleep inertia”—the grogginess and”可知，“睡眠惯性”是在深度睡眠阶段醒来时产生的昏昏沉沉和迷失方向，空格处意为“迷失方向”，用名词disorientation作宾语，是不可数名词，故选F。 【6题详解】 考查名词。句意：例如，如果他们试图执行安全关键任务、做出重要决策或操作机器，这可能会产生严重的后果。由下文“if they then try to perform safety-critical tasks, make important decisions, or operate machinery”可知，此处表示“如果他们试图执行安全关键任务、做出重要决策或操作机器，这可能会产生严重的后果”，空格处意为“后果”，是implication，要用复数表示很多后果，作宾语。故选G。 【7题详解】 考查名词。句意：如果在白天睡得太晚，它会消耗“睡眠压力积累”——身体对睡眠的自然驱动——使你在晚上更难入睡。由“sleep pressure build-up”可知，“睡眠压力积累”是身体对睡眠的自然驱动，空格处意为“驱动”，是drive，是不可数名词，故选E。 【8题详解】 考查形容词。句意：轮班工作者常常因作息不规律而睡眠碎片化，在夜班前适时小睡可以提升警觉性，并降低出错和发生事故的风险。由下文“due to irregular schedules”可知，此处表示“轮班工作者常常因作息不规律而睡眠碎片化”，空格处意为“碎片化的”，是fragmented，作定语。故选I。 【9题详解】 考查不定式。句意：同样，那些经常因为工作、养育子女或其他需要而在晚上难以获得足够睡眠的人，可能会从小睡中受益，因为小睡可以增加额外的睡眠时间，弥补睡眠不足。由前面的“benefit from naps”和下文“extra hours of sleep”可知，此处表示“小睡可以增加额外的睡眠时间”，空格处意为“堆积，聚集”，是bank，用不定式表目的，因此空格处是原形，故选K。 【10题详解】 考查不定式。句意：患有慢性失眠症的人经常被建议完全避免小睡，因为白天的睡眠会削弱他们晚上睡觉的欲望。由前面的“People with chronic insomnia are often advised to”可知，此处表示“患有慢性失眠症的人经常被建议完全避免小睡”，空格处意为“避免”，是avoid，be advised to do sth.是固定短语，意为“被建议做某事”，因此空格处用动词原形，故选A。 III. Reading Comprehension Section A Cloze (15’) Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context. Burning oil, gas, and coal — literal fossil fuels, made from the compressed remains of ancient plants and plankton — has released carbon into Earth’s atmosphere, where it traps heat and alters the climate. That ___11___ has caused massive destruction and loss of life, and it will continue to do so. As a result, carbon came to be seen as something to “fight,” and “capture.” Nevertheless, Paul Hawken, the author of the new book Carbon: The Book of Life, argues that such carbon-reduction movement is thinking about its work, and messaging, all ___12___. “Those who call carbon a pollutant might want to lay down their word processor,” Hawken writes. Carbon, he notes, is after all the building block of life, the animating force behind trees, rhinos, eyelashes, hormones, bamboo, and so much more. Without it, Earth would just be a lonely, dead rock. So much for decarbonizing. Hawken has come to believe that treating carbon as something to tackle and reduce not only reflects the same mindset that caused unnecessary climate anxiety in the first place, but also further ___13___ people from the living world. There is no “climate crisis,” he argues, but a crisis of human thinking and behavior that’s degrading the soil, ___14___ entire species, and changing the weather faster than people can adapt. “From a planetary view,” he writes in Carbon, “the warming atmosphere is a response, an adjustment, a teaching.” The book records a ___15___ in his thinking. In 2017, Hawken published Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, a book that ranked 100 climate solutions by how much they could reduce carbon emissions, from refrigerant leaks to food waste. The nonprofit Project Drawdown, which he launched, continues to ___16___ these kinds of fixes around the world. But now, Hawken is forgoing straightforward metrics to focus on what he sees as a deeper cultural problem. “The living world is a complex interactive system and doesn’t lend itself to ___17___ solutions,” he said, “we need to conduct more in-depth analysis”. The new book frames carbon as a flow — a ___18___ that moves through the atmosphere, oceans, soil, with the element ___19___ by growing plants during daytime and exhaled back out through every animal breath. Hawken’s book is a lesson in what’s sometimes called “unlearning,” or letting go of old assumptions, like the idea that nature is something to fix or ____20____. The book explores ways to repair a broken relationship with the natural world, drawing inspiration from indigenous cultures and new scientific discoveries. Hawken ____21____ at how much remains unknown about carbon, which he calls with awe “the most mysterious element of all.” The book’s poetic language offers a stark contrast to the warlike terms climate advocates tend to use to describe carbon. Hawken argues that the typical metaphors of those advocates are not only ____22____ — how exactly do you battle an element? — but also provide fuel for unfair narratives of carbon. Last week, E&E News reported that the administration is planning a federal report making the case that a warming world would be a good thing, a pretext for ____23____ climate regulations. “Carbon dioxide is not an evil gas,” David Legates, a former Trump official, said in a recent video put out by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank. “____24____, it’s a gas beneficial to life on Earth. It’ll increase temperatures slightly, and warmer temperatures are certainly better than colder temperatures.” Hawken wants a broad shift in how people talk about the natural world, though, not just a rethinking of the climate movement’s metaphors. He points out that the terms used in scientific reports and global climate conferences creates a sense of detachment that ____25____ the living things it refers to. Hawken describes the word “biodiversity” as just “a bloodless term”. While Hawken’s radical opinions have gained some followers, they have sparkled greater criticism and doubt in the whole society. 11. A. progress B. domain C. liberation D. process 12. A. groundless B. valid C. precise D. distinctive 13. A. assimilate B. distance C. bond D. release 14. A. living off B. accounting for C. contributing to D. wiping out 15. A. shift B. dimension C. sophistication D. integrity 16. A. generate B. implement C. motion D. flutter 17. A. inevitable B. simple C. navigable D. intricate 18. A. motive B. friction C. ritual D. cycle 19. A. released B. absorbed C. transformed D. formatted 20. A. control B. admire C. facilitate D. quantify 21. A. targets B. revolves C. marvels D. rebels 22. A. inaccurate B. exact C. insightful D. virtuous 23. A. intensifying B. reinforcing C. formulating D. weakening 24. A. Subsequently B. Furthermore C. Consequently D. Rather 25. A. dulls B. invigorates C. enlightens D. restrains 【答案】11. D 12. A 13. B 14. D 15. A 16. B 17. B 18. D 19. B 20. A 21. C 22. A 23. D 24. D 25. A 【解析】 【导语】本文是一篇议论文。文章主要讲述了对碳认知的转变及引发的争议。 【11题详解】 考查名词词义辨析。句意：那个过程已经造成了巨大的破坏和生命损失，并且还将继续如此。A. progress进步；B. domain领域；C. liberation解放；D. process过程。根据上文“Burning oil, gas, and coal — literal fossil fuels, made from the compressed remains of ancient plants and plankton — has released carbon into Earth’s atmosphere, where it traps heat and alters the climate.”可知，燃烧化石燃料释放碳到大气中，进而改变气候，这是一个过程，那个过程已经造成了巨大的破坏和生命损失。故选D。 【12题详解】 考查形容词词义辨析。句意：然而，新书《碳：生命之书》的作者保罗·霍肯认为，这种碳减排运动对其工作和信息传递的思考方式都是毫无根据的。A. groundless毫无根据的；B. valid有效的；C. precise精确的；D. distinctive独特的。根据下文““Those who call carbon a pollutant might want to lay down their word processor,” Hawken writes. Carbon, he notes, is after all the building block of life, the animating force behind trees, rhinos, eyelashes, hormones, bamboo, and so much more. Without it, Earth would just be a lonely, dead rock. So much for decarbonizing.”可知，霍肯写道：“那些把碳称为污染物的人或许应该放下手中的文字处理器了。” 他指出，碳毕竟是生命的基石，是树木、犀牛、睫毛、荷尔蒙、竹子以及众多其他生命背后的赋予生机的力量。没有了碳，地球就只会是一块孤寂、毫无生气的岩石。所谓的去碳化也就不过如此罢了。霍肯认为将碳视为污染物是错误的，他觉得碳减排运动的思考和宣传是没有根据的。故选A。 【13题详解】 考查动词词义辨析。句意：霍肯逐渐认为，把碳当作需要解决和减少的东西，不仅反映了最初导致不必要的气候焦虑的相同心态，而且进一步使人们远离了生物世界。A. assimilate同化；B. distance使疏远；C. bond结合；D. release释放。根据上文“treating carbon as something to tackle and reduce”以及下文“from the living world”可知，这里表示将碳视为敌人会让人们与自然世界更加疏远。故选B 【14题详解】 考查动词短语辨析。句意：他认为，没有“气候危机”，而是人类思维和行为方式危机，这种危机正在使土壤退化，使整个物种灭绝，并使天气变化比人们适应的速度更快。A. living off靠……生活；B. accounting for解释；C. contributing to有助于；D. wiping out消灭。根据上文“a crisis of human thinking and behavior that’s degrading the soil”以及下文“entire species”可知，人类的行为导致物种灭绝。故选D。 【15题详解】 考查名词词义辨析。句意：这本书记录了他思想的转变。A. shift转变；B. dimension维度；C. sophistication复杂；D. integrity完整。根据下文“In 2017, Hawken published Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, a book that ranked 100 climate solutions by how much they could reduce carbon emissions, from refrigerant leaks to food waste. The nonprofit Project Drawdown, which he launched, continues to 　6　 these kinds of fixes around the world. But now, Hawken is forgoing straightforward metrics to focus on what he sees as a deeper cultural problem.”可知，从他之前出版的书关注碳减排到现在关注他认为更深层次的文化问题，体现了他思想的转变。故选A。 【16题详解】 考查动词词义辨析。句意：他发起的非营利组织“降排项目”继续在世界各地实施这些解决方案。A. generate产生；B. implement实施；C. motion提议；D. flutter飘动。根据上文“The nonprofit Project Drawdown, which he launched”以及下文“these kinds of fixes around the world”可知，这里指实施碳减排的解决方案。故选B。 【17题详解】 考查形容词词义辨析。句意：“生物世界是一个复杂的交互系统，不适合简单的解决方案，”他说，“我们需要进行更深入的分析”。A. inevitable不可避免的；B. simple简单的；C. navigable可航行的；D. intricate复杂的。根据上文“The living world is a complex interactive system”可知，生物世界复杂，不适合简单的解决方案。故选B。 【18题详解】 考查名词词义辨析。句意：这本新书将碳描述为一种流动——一种在大气、海洋、土壤中循环的循环，这种元素在白天被生长的植物吸收，并通过每个动物的呼吸呼出。A. motive动机；B. friction摩擦；C. ritual仪式；D. cycle循环。根据下文“that moves through the atmosphere, oceans, soil”可知，碳在大气、海洋、土壤中循环。故选D。 【19题详解】 考查动词词义辨析。句意：这本新书将碳描述为一种流动 —— 一个在大气、海洋和土壤中循环的过程，在这个过程中，碳元素在白天被生长的植物吸收，然后通过每一个动物的呼吸又被排放回外界。A. released释放；B. absorbed吸收；C. transformed转变；D. formatted格式化。根据下文“by growing plants during daytime and exhaled back out through every animal breath”可知，植物在白天吸收碳。故选B。 【20题详解】 考查动词词义辨析。句意：霍肯的书是一堂关于所谓“忘却”或放下旧假设的课程，比如自然是需要修复或控制的东西的想法。A. control控制；B. admire钦佩；C. facilitate促进；D. quantify量化。根据上文“letting go of old assumptions”以及下文“nature is something to fix”可知，旧假设认为自然是需要修复或控制的东西。故选A。 【21题详解】 考查动词词义辨析。句意：霍肯惊讶于关于碳还有多少未知之处，他敬畏地称碳为 “所有元素中最神秘的元素”。A. targets瞄准；B. revolves旋转；C. marvels惊讶；D. rebels反抗。根据下文“at how much remains unknown about carbon”可知，这里表示霍肯对碳的神秘感到惊讶。故选C。 【22题详解】 考查形容词词义辨析。句意：霍肯认为，这些倡导者的典型隐喻不仅不准确——你如何与一种元素作战？——而且还为不公平的碳叙述提供了燃料。A. inaccurate不准确的；B. exact精确的；C. insightful有洞察力的；D. virtuous善良的。根据下文“how exactly do you battle an element?”可知，霍肯认为这些倡导者的典型隐喻不准确。故选A。 【23题详解】 考查动词词义辨析。句意：上周，《能源与环境新闻》报道称，政府正在计划一份联邦报告，称气候变暖将是一件好事，这是为削弱气候法规找借口。A. intensifying强化；B. reinforcing加强；C. formulating制定；D. weakening削弱。根据上文“a warming world would be a good thing”可知，既然认为全球变暖是好事，那么就是为削弱气候法规找借口。故选D。 【24题详解】 考查副词词义辨析。句意：相反，它是一种对地球上生命有益气体。A. Subsequently随后；B. Furthermore此外；C. Consequently因此；D. Rather相反。根据上文“Carbon dioxide is not an evil gas”以及下文“it’s a gas beneficial to life on Earth”可知，前后是相反的关系。故选D。 【25题详解】 考查动词词义辨析。句意：他指出，科学报告和全球气候会议中使用的术语造成了一种疏离感，使所涉及的生物变得不清晰。A. dulls使迟钝，变模糊；B. invigorates使振奋；C. enlightens启发；D. restrains限制。根据上文“creates a sense of detachment”和下文“the living things it refers to. Hawken describes the word “biodiversity” as just “a bloodless term”.”可知，霍肯形容“生物多样性” 这个词不过是个“冷冰冰的术语”。所以霍肯认为这种疏离感会让人们对生物的感知变得不清晰。故选A。 Section B (22’) Directions: Read the following four passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read. (A) The Painting Fool is one of a growing number of computer programs which, as their makers claim, possess creative talents. Classical music by an artificial composer has had audiences enraptured, and even tricked them into believing a human was behind the score. Artworks painted by a robot have sold for thousands of dollars and been hung in prestigious galleries. And software has been built which creates art that could not have been imagined by the programmer. Human beings are the only species to perform sophisticated creative acts regularly. If we can break this process down into computer code, where does that leave human creativity? ‘This is a question at the very core of humanity,’ says Geraint Wiggins, a computational creativity researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London. ‘It scares a lot of people. They are worried that it is taking something special away from what it means to be human.’ To some extent, we are all familiar with computerized art. The question is: where does the work of the artist stop and the creativity of the computer begin? Consider one of the oldest machine artists, Aaron, a robot that has had paintings exhibited in London’s Tate Modern and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Aaron can pick up a paintbrush and paint on canvas on its own. Impressive perhaps, but it is still little more than a tool to realize the programmer’s own creative ideas. Simon Colton, the designer of the Painting Fool, is keen to make sure his creation doesn’t attract the same criticism. Unlike earlier ‘artists’ such as Aaron, the Painting Fool only needs minimal direction and can come up with its own concepts by going online for material. The software runs its own web searches and trawls through social media sites. It is now beginning to display a kind of imagination too, creating pictures from scratch. One of its original works is a series of fuzzy landscapes, depicting trees and sky. While some might say they have a mechanical look, Colton argues that such reactions arise from people’s double standards towards software-produced and human-produced art. After all, he says, consider that the Painting Fool painted the landscapes without referring to a photo. ‘If a child painted a new scene from its head, you’d say it has a certain level of imagination,’ he points out. ‘The same should be true of a machine.’ Software bugs can also lead to unexpected results. Some of the Painting Fool’s paintings of a chair came out in black and white, thanks to a technical glitch. This gives the work an eerie, ghostlike quality. Human artists like the renowned Ellsworth Kelly are lauded for limiting their color palette-so why should computers be any different? 26. What is the writer suggesting about computer-produced works in the first paragraph? A. People’s acceptance of them can vary considerably. B. A great deal of progress has already been attained in this field. C. They have had more success in some artistic genres than in others. D. The advances are not as significant as the public believes them to be. 27. According to Geraint Wiggins, why are many people worried by computer art? A. It is aesthetically inferior to human art. B. It may ultimately supersede human art. C. It undermines a fundamental human quality. D. It will lead to a deterioration in human ability. 28. What is a key difference between Aaron and the Painting Fool? A. Its programmer’s background. B. Public response to its work. C. The source of its subject matter. D. The technical standard of its output. 29. What point does Simon Colton make in the fourth paragraph? A. Software-produced art is often dismissed as childish and simplistic. B. The same concepts of creativity should not be applied to all forms of art. C. It is unreasonable to expect a machine to be as imaginative as a human being. D. People tend to judge computer art and human art according to different criteria. 【答案】26. B 27. C 28. C 29. D 【解析】 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。主要介绍的是计算机程序在艺术创作领域的进展及其引发的关于人类创造力与机器创造力的讨论，探讨了人工智能艺术作品的独特性及争议。 【26题详解】 细节理解题。根据第一段中的“The Painting Fool is one of a growing number of computer programs which, as their makers claim, possess creative talents. Classical music by an artificial composer has had audiences enraptured, and even tricked them into believing a human was behind the score. Artworks painted by a robot have sold for thousands of dollars and been hung in prestigious galleries. (“绘画愚人”是越来越多声称具有创造力的计算机程序之一。由人工智能作曲家创作的古典音乐让观众着迷，甚至让他们误以为背后是人类创作。机器人绘制的艺术品已以数千美元的价格售出，并被挂在著名画廊中。)”可知，作者通过具体实例表明，计算机生成艺术领域已经取得了显著进步。故选B项。 【27题详解】 细节理解题。根据第二段的“‘This is a question at the very core of humanity,’ says Geraint Wiggins, a computational creativity researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London. ‘It scares a lot of people. They are worried that it is taking something special away from what it means to be human.’(‘这是一个人类核心的问题，’伦敦大学金史密斯学院的计算创造力研究员格伦特·威金斯说。‘这吓坏了许多人。他们担心这会夺走一些成为人类所特有的东西。’)”可知，许多人担忧计算机艺术会削弱人类的基本特质。故选C项。 【28题详解】 细节理解题。根据第三段中的“Aaron can pick up a paintbrush and paint on canvas on its own. Impressive perhaps, but it is still little more than a tool to realize the programmer’s own creative ideas. (Aaron可以拿起画笔自行在画布上作画。虽然令人印象深刻，但它仍然只是实现程序员创意想法的工具。)”可知，Aaron使用画笔自行在画布上作画，结合第四段中的“Unlike earlier ‘artists’ such as Aaron, the Painting Fool only needs minimal direction and can come up with its own concepts by going online for material. (与早期的‘艺术家’如Aaron不同，“绘画愚人”只需最少的指导，便能通过上网获取材料并提出自己的概念。)”可知，“绘画愚人”通过上网获取材料并提出自己的概念，由此可知，两者的区别在于主题来源不同。故选C项。 【29题详解】 推理判断题。根据第四段的“Colton argues that such reactions arise from people’s double standards towards software-produced and human-produced art. After all, he says, consider that the Painting Fool painted the landscapes without referring to a photo. ‘If a child painted a new scene from its head, you’d say it has a certain level of imagination,’ he points out. ‘The same should be true of a machine.’(Colton认为，这种反应源于人们对软件生成艺术和人类生成艺术的双重标准。毕竟，他说，“绘画愚人”在没有参考照片的情况下绘制了风景画。‘如果一个孩子凭空画出一幅新场景，你会说它具有一定想象力，’他指出，‘机器也应如此。’)”可知，Colton认为，这种反应源于人们对软件生成艺术和人类生成艺术的双重标准，由此可知，Colton指出人们评判计算机艺术和人类艺术时采用不同标准的现象。故选D项。 (B) Join a Project There are many opportunities to become a citizen scientist in national parks. Check out some park-sponsored projects below. You can find additional projects on external sites like SciStarter.com and CitizenScience.gov. And if you're accustomed to using programs like eBird or iNaturalist, you can continue to do so in any national park, even on your own. What can you do as a citizen scientist in a national park? Most likely you’ll collect data and upload them to a database. In some cases, you can explore, graph, and analyze data. If the project is new, you may be able to make suggestions about study design or procedures. In all cases, you will learn and experience real science. And you'll do it in the places you love. Acadia National Park (ME) Sundew Phenology Trail Purpose: Monitor phenology (seasonal timing) of trees, plants, and shrubs in coastal Maine to help the park understand long-term trends. Activities: Use Nature's Notebook mobile app to record and upload phenological stages of specific plants. Location & Timing: Participate in the park; spring, summer and fall every year. Requirements: Anyone can participate, young children should be supervised by adults; training is provided. To Participate: Groups enroll in park’s residential education programming; individuals enroll in park’s public programs. Denali National Park and Preserve (AK) Snowshoe Hare Pellet Plot Project Purpose: Estimate the population density of snowshoe hares on an annual basis. Activities: Volunteers count snowshoe hare fecal pellets (粪球) at established plots within the park. Location & Timing: Participate in the park; June- August every year. Requirements: Must be a teen or adult, or part of a school/organization group; training is provided. Volunteers must be able to take difficult hikes in the backcountry, spend time on hands and knees, and follow verbal instructions. To Participate: Email to express interest. Homestead National Historical Park (NE) Black Homesteading Project Purpose: Reveal the history of Black homesteaders who obtained titles for about 650,000 acres of prairie land from the General Land Office in the 1870s-1930s. Activities: Online volunteers will transcribe original historical documents into digital formats so they can be shared with scholars and the public worldwide. Location & Timing: Online, no time restrictions. Requirements: Stable Internet connection. Open to adults, teens, and families. To Participate: Please sign up through the Federal Government's volunteer page: Volunteer I Opportunity Detail Rocky Mountain National Park (CO) Lily Lake Phenology Project Purpose: Monitor seasonal changes (phenology) of plants and animals at Lily Lake to help the park understand long-term trends. Activities: Record observations of plants and animals using the mobile app Survey 123. Location & Timing: Participate in the park, year- round. Best opportunities are April-October. Requirements: Must be a teen or adult. No special training is required. Participants need a mobile device. To Participate: See the project website to download the data collection form and Instructions to your mobile device. 30 Which of the following is TRUE about a citizen science project? A. Joining citizen scientist project is an essential step to become a real scientist. B. A citizen scientist is an expert at exploring, graphing, and analyzing data, C. The participants’ main responsibility is to generate and develop new ideas for a project. D. The project helps spread scientific knowledge through public participation in scientific research. 31. Which project does not require the use of digital devices? A. Sundew Phenology Trail B. Black Homesteading Project C. Snowshoe Hare Pellet Plot Project D. Lily Lake Phenology Project 32. The Green Sprout Primary School is planning a summer camp to arouse students’ interest in scientific research, which national park offers the most proper activity for their students? A. Acadia National Park B. Denali National Park and Preserve C. Homestead National Historical Park D. Rocky Mountain National Park 【答案】30. D 31. C 32. A 【解析】 【分析】本文是一篇应用文。主要介绍了国家公园赞助的几个项目，这些项目有很多机会让普通人成为一名公民科学家。 【30题详解】 细节理解题。根据第二段“In some cases, you can explore, graph, and analyze data. If the project is new, you may be able to make suggestions about study design or procedures. In all cases, you will learn and experience real science. And you'll do it in the places you love.(在某些情况下，您可以探索、绘制和分析数据。如果项目是新的，您可以就研究设计或程序提出建议。在所有情况下，你将学习和体验真正的科学。你可以在你喜欢的地方研究)”可知，公民科学项目通过公众参与科学研究，让公民真正地体验科学，帮助公民学习科学知识，帮助传播科学知识。故选D。 【31题详解】 细节理解题。根据第二个小标题Snowshoe Hare Pellet Plot Project中的“Activities: Volunteers count snowshoe hare fecal pellets (粪球) at established plots within the park. Requirements: Must be a teen or adult, or part of a school/organization group; training is provided. Volunteers must be able to take difficult hikes in the backcountry, spend time on hands and knees, and follow verbal instructions.(活动：志愿者在公园内的固定场地数雪鞋兔的粪便颗粒。要求：必须是青少年或成人，或学校/组织的成员；提供培训。志愿者必须能够在偏远地区进行艰难的徒步旅行，花时间在手脚并用上，并遵循口头指示)”可知，Snowshoe Hare Pellet Plot Project这个项目的要求和活动中未提及要使用数字设备，所以Snowshoe Hare Pellet Plot Project不需要使用数字设备。故选C。 【32题详解】 细节理解题。根据第一个小标题Acadia National Park (ME)中“Purpose: Monitor phenology (seasonal timing) of trees, plants, and shrubs in coastal Maine to help the park understand long-term trends.(目的：监测缅因州沿海地区树木、植物和灌木的物候(季节)，以帮助公园长远发展)”，“Location & Timing: Participate in the park; spring, summer and fall every year.(地点和时间：参与公园活动；每年春天、夏天和秋天)”及“Requirements: Anyone can participate, young children should be supervised by adults; training is provided.(要求：任何人都可以参加，幼儿应由成人监督，提供培训)”可知，Acadia National Park (ME)适合举办夏令营，能让小学生参观游玩，提供相关培训（Rocky Mountain National Park (CO)没有培训），并能观察缅因州沿海地区树木、植物和灌木的物候，对于激发学生对科学研究的兴趣最合适。故选A。 (C) Prior to the beginning of the Late Preclassic period in 300 B.C., Maya ceremonial centers of relatively substantial size had already appeared in Central America. The ceremonial center was a distinctive feature of Maya culture, acting as a focus for the community. Generally speaking, these centers were not what we would call cities. Although they did consist of a number of large and varied buildings, they did not have a substantial resident population. Some scholars have even labeled these Maya centers “vacant towns”. Their permanent population consisted mainly of rulers, priests, and their attendants plus a limited number of artisans. The elite lived in big houses or in palaces in and around the center. The bulk of the peasant population lived in much more modest wood and thatch homes in the areas surrounding the centers. At certain times of the year, on the occasion of major religious festivals such as the one at the time of the planting of their crops, scholars hypothesize, by analogy to historical and modern practices, that the peasants would flock to the centers to observe and participate in the ceremonies. At other times of the year, some of the peasants would be called into the centers to help in the construction of new temples and palaces dedicated to the glory of the gods and to the comforts of their earthly representatives, the priestly rulers. The peasants also would provide the food to help sustain the elite in the centers. What the peasants received from the elite was certainly not as tangible as the services they provided. In return for food and labor, the peasants were offered a psychologically and spiritually secure and ordered world, as well as access to some trade goods. Apparently, this was enough. Agriculture in the tropical Maya lowlands was at best a chancy business: even slight shifts in the onset of the rainy season or the dry season could mean disaster for that year’s harvest. The religion of the ancient Maya helped the peasants cope with their precarious lives. If the gods were properly propitiated, the crops would be good—as would life in general. One archaeologist, William Haviland, argues that it was the centralizing effects of Maya religion that led to the rise of Classic Maya civilization. He believes that the religious centers acted as magnets to peoples living in the surrounding areas. To support the growing populations around the centers, Haviland argues, the agricultural systems became intensified. This led to the evolution of a complex state. Haviland believes that as early as 200 B.C., the “vacant” ceremonial centers at Tikal had begun transformation toward urban centers. Moreover, by this time or even earlier, other centers with huge, labor-intensive buildings had begun to emerge. Sites such as Nakbé, El Mirador, and Lamanai may have approached urban dimensions in the last few centuries of the first millennium B.C. Other scholars attribute the growth of the ceremonial centers to trade. William Rathje argues that the basic cause for the rise of Maya civilization was the necessity for the Maya, who lived in resource-poor lowlands, to trade with adjacent highlanders for materials such as obsidian (a rock used to make ornaments and cutting edges), salt, and hard stone for grinding implements. Rathje maintains that lowland sites such as Tikal, which were quite distant from the highland resource areas, were made bigger and architecturally magnificent to attract highland merchants and their trade. In order to undertake all the building, the elite had to attract more artisans and bring more laborers into the community to do the work. These population increases led in turn to even more building, population growth, greater population density, greater social differentiation, and occupational specialization. Critics have argued, however, that there were local substitutes for the external “necessities” and that foreign trade was present well before the rise of complex architecture. Yet other factors beyond ideology and trade must have been important in the emerging Classic Maya civilization. Competition among the growing number of centers may also have played a key role in the growth of social, economic, and political complexity, as the organization of the centers grew to meet the pressures of other centers for new agricultural land and control of rising populations. 33. According to paragraph 1, what important feature of cities did Maya ceremonial centers lack? A. Large, varied buildings. B. A large, permanent population. C. Distinctions between social classes. D. Religious temples. 34. According to paragraph 2, which of the following did the Maya elite provide for the peasants? A. Food for nourishment. B. Homes to live in. C. Security from the threats of other civilizations. D. A stable system of beliefs. 35. The word “precarious” in the passage is closest in meaning to ________ A. insecure B. difficult C. restricted D. unsatisfying 36. According to paragraph 4, what is the dispute between William Rathje and his critics? A. Whether a need to import obsidian, salt, and grinding stone can explain the growth of ceremonial centers. B. Whether people in the lowlands communities traded with people in the adjacent highlands. C. Whether obsidian was to be found in lowland areas such as Tikal that were distant from the highlands. D. Whether the development of ceremonial centers was characterized by complex architecture. 【答案】33. B 34. D 35. A 36. A 【解析】 【导语】这是一篇说明文。本文主要介绍了玛雅礼仪中心的特征及发展。 【33题详解】 细节理解题。根据第一段关键句“Generally speaking, these centers were not what we would call cities. Although they did consist of a number of large and varied buildings, they did not have a substantial resident population. (一般来说，这些中心不是我们所说的城市。虽然它们确实由许多大型和多样化的建筑组成，但它们没有大量的常住人口)”可知，玛雅礼仪中心不是我们所说的城市，因为它们没有大量的常住人口。由此可知，玛雅礼仪中心缺少的一项城市的重要特征是常住人口众多。故选B项。 【34题详解】 细节理解题。根据第二段关键句“In return for food and labor, the peasants were offered a psychologically and spiritually secure and ordered world, as well as access to some trade goods. (作为食物和劳动力的回报，农民们获得了一个心理和精神上安全有序的世界，以及获得一些贸易商品的机会)”可知，作为食物和劳动力的回报，玛雅精英为农民们提供一个心理和精神上安全有序的世界，即稳定的信仰体系。由此可知，玛雅精英为农民提供了稳定的信仰体系。故选D项。 【35题详解】 词义猜测题。根据画线单词上句“Agriculture in the tropical Maya lowlands was at best a chancy business: even slight shifts in the onset of the rainy season or the dry season could mean disaster for that year’s harvest. (热带玛雅低地的农业充其量是一项不稳定的业务：即使雨季或旱季开始时发生轻微变化，也可能对当年的收成造成灾难)”可知，农业是一项不稳定的业务，农民们的收成并不稳定，生活没有保障，由此可知，古玛雅人的宗教帮助农民应对没有保障的生活，“insecure”意为“无保障的”，能够表达画线单词在句中所要表达的意思。故选A项。 【36题详解】 推理判断题。根据第四段关键句“William Rathje argues that the basic cause for the rise of Maya civilization was the necessity for the Maya, who lived in resource-poor lowlands, to trade with adjacent highlanders for materials such as obsidian (a rock used to make ornaments and cutting edges), salt, and hard stone for grinding implements. (William Rathje认为，玛雅文明兴起的根本原因是生活在资源贫乏的低地的玛雅人必须与邻近的高地人进行贸易，以获得黑曜石（一种用于制作装饰品和切割边缘的岩石）、盐和用于研磨工具的硬石等材料)”和“Critics have argued, however, that there were local substitutes for the external “necessities” and that foreign trade was present well before the rise of complex architecture. (然而，批评者认为，外部“必需品”有当地的替代品，外贸早在复杂建筑兴起之前就存在了)”可知，William Rathje认为需要进口黑曜石、盐和磨石可以解释礼仪中心的发展，而批评者认为，外贸早在复杂建筑兴起之前就存在了，需要进口黑曜石、盐和磨石不能解释礼仪中心的发展。由此可知，William Rathje和他的批评者之间的争议是“是否需要进口黑曜石、盐和磨石可以解释礼仪中心的发展”。故选A项。 Section C (8’) Directions: Read the passage carefully. 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. It seemed a notably strange coincidence that the day after the Chronicle of Higher Education’s fascinating article about foreign-language acquisition and its remarkable contributions to the human mind and to society, Inside Higher Ed reported that George Washington University’s arts and sciences faculty had voted by an “overwhelming” margin not only to remove its foreign languages and cultures course requirement, but also to set up the new requirements in such a way that introductory foreign language courses can no longer count toward fulfilling any degree requirement in the college. ___37___. One wonders how “global perspectives” can happen without foreign language. But Catherine Porter (a former president of the Modern Language Association), writing in the Chronicle, puts it rather more bluntly. The lack of foreign-language learning in our society, she states, is “a devastating waste of potential.” Students who learn languages at an early age “consistently display enhanced cognitive abilities relative to their monolingual peers.” ___38___ Porter believes: “Demands that the language-learning process makes on the brain make the brain more flexible and incite it to discover new patterns-and thus to create and maintain more circuits.” ___39___ My own journey in languages is something for which I cannot claim any real foresight or deliberate intention, but by the age of 16, I spoke English, Hungarian, and French fluently. I’ve managed, through travel and personal and family connections, to maintain all three. One thing I know for sure is that when I get on the phone with my mother and talk to her in Hungarian for 20 minutes, or if I have to type out an email to a friend in Paris, afterwards I feel like I’ve had a mental jog on the treadmill: strangely energized, brain-stretched, more ready for any challenge, whether it’s cooking a new dish or drafting a paper. And the connective cultural tissue created by deep immersion in another language cannot be overstated. When I went to Hungary during grad school to research my thesis, I figured: no problem, it’s my native tongue. Yes, but I first learned it when I was a toddler, and never since then. ___40___ Time and again, I’ve realized how language can transform our interactions with one another. Porter’s article is a wake-up call that neglecting foreign-language learning is hurting our country in more ways than we realize. A. This isn’t about being able to impress their parents’ friends by piping up in Chinese at the dinner table — the research is showing that these kids can think better. B. Porter points out, as many others have, that in diplomatic, military, professional and commercial contexts, being monolingual is a significant handicap. C. One of Porter’s most interesting observations, according to my experience, was about how multilingualism enhances “brain fitness”. D. In short, making the United States a more multilingual society would carry with it untold benefits. E. The amount of preparation I had to do to be sure I didn’t miss small details or cultural cues and didn’t draw conclusions based on inaccurate translation, was significant, but well worth it. F. At the same time, this curricular reform is apparently “designed to promote student learning in areas such as global perspectives and oral communications”. 【答案】37. F 38. C 39. A 40. E 【解析】 【导语】这是一篇议论文。文章强调外语学习的重要性，指出其对大脑健康、认知能力、社会交往的深远影响。通过引用专家观点和个人经历，文章批判了忽视外语学习的后果，呼吁重视语言教育，以提升个人与社会的整体能力。 【37题详解】 根据上文“It seemed a notably strange coincidence that the day after the Chronicle of Higher Education’s fascinating article about foreign-language acquisition and its remarkable contributions to the human mind and to society, Inside Higher Ed reported that George Washington University’s arts and sciences faculty had voted by an “overwhelming” margin not only to remove its foreign languages and cultures course requirement, but also to set up the new requirements in such a way that introductory foreign language courses can no longer count toward fulfilling any degree requirement in the college.(这似乎是一个格外诡异的巧合—— 就在《高等教育纪事报》发表了一篇关于外语习得及其对人类思维和社会非凡贡献的精彩文章后第二天，《高等教育内幕》报道称，乔治华盛顿大学文理学院教师以压倒性票数通过决议：不仅取消外语与文化课程必修要求，还重新设定学位条件，使初级外语课程无法计入任何毕业学分)”提到乔治华盛顿大学取消外语课程要求，并设置新规则使入门课程不再计入学位要求。选项F“At the same time, this curricular reform is apparently “designed to promote student learning in areas such as global perspectives and oral communications”.(与此同时，这项课程改革显然“旨在促进学生在诸如全球视野和口头交流等领域的学业发展”)”与学校表面上的理由一致，形成讽刺对比（取消外语课程却声称促进全球视野），符合作者批判的语气。故选F。 【38题详解】  前文“ The lack of foreign-language learning in our society, she states, is “a devastating waste of potential.” Students who learn languages at an early age “consistently display enhanced cognitive abilities relative to their monolingual peers”.(她指出，我们社会中外语学习的缺失是“对潜能的灾难性浪费”。早年学习语言的学生“相较于单语同龄人持续展现出更强的认知能力”)”引用了Porter 观点，强调早期语言学习对认知能力的提升。选项C提到了多语种增强“大脑健康”，直接承接Porter的论述，再结合下文“Porter believes: “Demands that the language-learning process makes on the brain make the brain more flexible and incite it to discover new patterns and thus to create and maintain more circuits.” (波特认为：“ 语言学习过程对大脑的严苛要求使神经更具可塑性，激发其发现新规律 ，从而创建并维持更多神经回路。”)”，选项C“One of Porter’s most interesting observations, according to my experience, was about how multilingualism enhances “brain fitness”.(根据我的经验，波特最有趣的观察之一是多语言能力如何增强“大脑健康”)”引出了下文关于语言学习对大脑灵活性和创造力的解释。故选C。 【39题详解】  根据空后“My own journey in languages is something for which I cannot claim any real foresight or deliberate intention, but by the age of 16, I spoke English, Hungarian, and French fluently. I’ve managed, through travel and personal and family connections, to maintain all three. One thing I know for sure is that when I get on the phone with my mother and talk to her in Hungarian for 20 minutes, or if I have to type out an email to a friend in Paris, afterwards I feel like I’ve had a mental jog on the treadmill: strangely energized, brain-stretched, more ready for any challenge, whether it’s cooking a new dish or drafting a paper. And the connective cultural tissue created by deep immersion in another language cannot be overstated. When I went to Hungary during grad school to research my thesis, I figured: no problem, it’s my native tongue. Yes, but I first learned it when I was a toddler, and never since then.(我的语言学习历程谈不上任何远见或刻意规划，但16岁时我已能流利使用英语、匈牙利语和法语。通过旅行、社交和家庭联系，这三种语言得以保持。我确信的是：当用匈牙利语与母亲通话20分钟，或用巴黎友人的母语撰写邮件后，我的大脑如同完成跑步机训练：莫名充满能量，思维延展，面对新菜品研发或论文草拟都更具准备。深度语言沉浸创造的跨文化联结难以估量。研究生时期赴匈牙利进行论文调研时，我原以为母语匈牙利语不成问题。但事实上，幼年习得的语言若不持续使用仍需精心准备)”可知，作者通过个人经历说明语言的实际价值，与社会上“用外语 impress parents”的表面功夫形成对比。 选项A“This isn’t about being able to impress their parents’ friends by piping up in Chinese at the dinner table — the research is showing that these kids can think better.(这并不是为了能在晚餐桌上用中文插句话让父母的朋友们刮目相看—— 研究表明，这些孩子的思维能力更强)”提到了这不是为了impress parents，而是研究表明外语提升思维能力，引出作者的亲身经历，强调语言学习的深层益处。故选A。 【40题详解】 根据上文“When I went to Hungary during grad school to research my thesis, I figured: no problem, it’s my native tongue. Yes, but I first learned it when I was a toddler, and never since then.(研究生时期赴匈牙利进行论文调研时，我原以为母语匈牙利语不成问题。但事实上，幼年习得的语言若不持续使用仍需精心准备)”可知，作者提到用母语研究时仍需仔细准备，避免文化误解。 选项E“The amount of preparation I had to do to be sure I didn’t miss small details or cultural cues and didn’t draw conclusions based on inaccurate translation, was significant, but well worth it.(为确保不遗漏任何细微的细节或文化暗示，避免因翻译不准确而得出错误结论，我所做的准备工作虽繁重，但完全值得)”总结了深度语言使用带来的挑战与回报。故选E。 *IV. Grammar (20’) (A) 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. Traditionally, Yupik families spent the spring and summer at fish camp, and then joined with others at village sites for the winter. Edible greens and berries ___41___ (grow) profusely in the summer, and there are numerous birch and spruce trees in the region. In contrast to the Northern Eskimos who built igloos (冰屋) for shelter, the Yupik used trees and driftwood ___42___ (build) permanent winter homes, separate buildings for the men and the women. The men’s communal house, the qasgiq, was the community center for ceremonies and festivals which included singing, dancing, and storytelling. The qasgiq was used mainly in the winter months ___43___ people would travel in family groups following food sources throughout the spring, summer, and fall months. Aside from ceremonies and festivals, it was also ___44___ the men taught the young boys survival and hunting skills, as well as other life lessons. The young boys were also taught how to make tools and qayaqs (kayaks) during the winter months. The women’s houses, the ena, were smaller made of sod. They ___45___ (locate) next to the gasgiq, and in some areas they were connected by a tunnel. Women taught the young girls how to sew, cook, and weave. Boys would live with their mothers ___46___ they were about five years old, then they would live in the qasgiq. Each winter, from anywhere between three to six weeks, the young boys and young girls would exchange, with the men teaching the girls survival and hunting skills and toolmaking and the women teaching the boys how to sew and cook. The winter building of Siberian Yupik, called yaranga, was a round, dome-shaped building, with a framework made of posts. In the middle of the twentieth century, ___47___ (follow) external influence, canvas was used to cover the framework. The yaranga was surrounded by sod or planking at the lower part. There was another smaller building ___48___ it, used for sleeping and living. Household works were done in the room ___49___ (surround) this inner building, and also many household utensils were stored there. At night and during winter storms the dogs were brought inside the outer part of the building. Villages consisted of groups of as many as 300 persons, tied together by blood and marriage. Marriage could take place _____50_____ members of the immediate village, but remained with the larger regional group, as the regional groups were often at war with each other. 【答案】41. grow 42. to build 43. because 44. where 45. were located 46. until 47. following 48. inside 49. surrounding 50. beyond 【解析】 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了Yupik家庭的传统生活方式，包括他们的居住模式、建筑特点、社会结构以及教育方式等。 【41题详解】 考查谓语动词。句意：可食用的绿色蔬菜和浆果在夏季生长得十分繁茂，该地区还有大量的桦树和云杉。分析句子成分可知，空处考查本句谓语动词；根据并列句时态可知，本句时态为一般现在时；主语为“Edible greens and berries”，和动词“grow”之间为主动关系。故填grow。 【42题详解】 考查非谓语动词。句意：与建造冰屋作为住所的北部爱斯基摩人不同，Yupik人用树木和浮木建造永久性的冬季房屋，这些房屋分为供男性和女性居住的独立建筑。分析句子成分可知，空处考查非谓语动词形式担当目的状语，用动词不定式形式。故填to build。 【43题详解】 考查状语从句。句意：“qasgiq”主要在冬季使用，因为在整个春季、夏季和秋季，人们会以家庭为单位跟随食物来源四处迁徙。分析句子成分可知，空处考查原因状语从句的引导词；空后解释了上文现象的原因，用引导词“because”引导。故填because。 【44题详解】 考查表语从句。句意：除了举行仪式和节庆活动外，“qasgiq”也是男性传授小男孩生存和狩猎技能以及其他生活经验的地方。分析句子成分可知，空处考查表语从句的引导词；表语从句中缺少地点状语，用where引导。故填where。 【45题详解】 考查谓语动词。句意：它们位于“qasgiq”旁边，在一些地区，它们之间由一条隧道相连。分析句子成分可知，空处考查本句谓语动词；根据上下文时态可知，本句为一般过去时；主语为“they”，复数，和动词“locate”之间为被动关系。故填were located。 【46题详解】 考查状语从句。句意：男孩们会和母亲一起生活，直到大约五岁，然后他们就会住进“qasgiq”。分析句子成分可知，空处考查时间状语从句的引导词，意为“直到”，用连接词“until”引导。故填until。 【47题详解】 考查非谓语动词。句意：在20世纪中期，受到外部影响后，人们开始用帆布覆盖这个框架。分析句子成分可知，空处考查非谓语动词担当状语；主语“canvas”和动词“follow”之间为主动关系，用现在分词形式。故填following。 【48题详解】 考查介词。句意：在它内部还有一个较小的建筑，用于睡觉和居住。分析句子成分可知，空处为介词形式，意为“在……内部”，用介词“inside”。故填inside。 【49题详解】 考查非谓语动词。句意：家务劳动在环绕着这个内部建筑的房间里进行，许多家用器具也储存在那里。分析句子成分可知，空处考查非谓语动词形式担当后置定语；被修饰词“the room”和动词“surround”之间为主动关系，用现在分词形式。故填surrounding。 【50题详解】 考查介词。句意：婚姻可以发生在同一村庄成员之外，但仍局限于更大的区域群体内，因为不同的区域群体之间常常处于敌对状态。分析句子成分可知，空处考查介词形式；根据下文“but remained with the larger regional group, as the regional groups were often at war with each other”可推测，婚姻也可以超越本村庄成员，用介词“beyond”。故填beyond (B) 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. People of every culture tell each other fairy tales and the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. The universal appeal of these fantastical tales is frequently owed ___51___ the idea that they contain warning messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, not wander away from the path, and avoid talking to strangers. “It ___52___ be what we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant information in it,” says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. ___53___ his research suggests otherwise. By exploring how fairy tales have changed and evolved as they spread between cultures, he believes he has discovered what truly makes them appealing. His analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many guises (变体), which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. ___54___ (Explore) academic collections for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story change least ___55___ it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that events are more central to the story than characters; however, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of events compared with ___56___ of characters. “Certain events are very stable because we recognize them as being crucial to the story but there are lots of other details that can evolve quite freely,” he says. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the middle section of a story is ___57___ (conserved) part. He found no significant difference in the flexibility of events at the beginning, middle and end. But the really big surprise came when he looked at the warning elements of the story. In his analysis, such elements were just as flexible as seemingly unimportant details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation? The answer, it would appear, is horror: horrifying aspects of the story turned out to be the best preserved of all. In many European versions, for example, the wolf feeds Red Riding Hood a meal made from the remains of her grandmother. “There’s this brilliant Italian one ___58___ the wolf says there’s some tortellini (意式饺子), but of course those are her grandmother’s ears,” says Tehrani. In East Asian variants, a group of sisters spend the night in bed with a tiger and awake ___59___ (hear) it eating the bones of the youngest one. “Those kinds of features are very common in lots of versions of the story,” says Tehrani. Why are these details treated with such respect by generations of storytellers, when other features are readily substituted? Tehrani has an idea: “In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not necessarily a great storyteller.” Maybe dining on the remains of a relative is so fascinating that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it ____60____ (tell). 【答案】51. to 52. might 53. But 54. Exploring 55. as 56. that 57. the most conserved 58. where 59. to hear 60. is told 【解析】 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。文章讲述了相同的童话故事在不同的文化背景下，在传播的过程中某些细节会发生变化，但会保持故事的趣味性。 【51题详解】 考查介词。句意：这些奇幻故事的普遍吸引力常常归功于它们包含警示信息的观点。固定搭配“owe to...”表示“归功于……”，故填to。 【52题详解】 考查情态动词。句意：“可能是我们对这个故事感兴趣的地方在于它包含了与生存相关的信息。”表示事实上的可能性，空后是原形动词，根据句意，可能性较小，用情态动词might，故填might。 【53题详解】 考查连词。句意：但他的研究表明并非如此。根据上下文语境，前后句为转折关系，用But连接，故填But。 【54题详解】 考查非谓语动词。句意：通过探索这两则故事的变体及来自非洲、东亚等地区的类似故事，他最终收集了58个口头传统记录的故事。此处explore作状语，主语he与explore为主动关系，用现在分词短语作伴随状语，故填Exploring。 【55题详解】 考查连词。句意：首先，他测试了一些假设，即故事的哪些方面在发展过程中变化最小，从而表明它们的重要性。此处用as引导时间状语从句，表示“随着……”，故填as。 【56题详解】 考查代词。句意：民俗学家认为，事件比人物更重要；然而，Tehrani发现事件与角色的演变速度没有显著差异。后由介词短语修饰，指“角色的演变速度”，用代词that，为同类异物指代。故填that。 【57题详解】 考查形容词最高级。句意：他的分析也不支持故事中间部分是最保守的理论。修饰名词用形容词作定语，其根据语境需用最高级，强调“最保守的”，故填the most conserved。 【58题详解】 考查关系副词。句意：“有一个精彩的意大利版本，狼说有一些意式饺子，但那些其实是祖母的耳朵。” 空处引导定语从句，修饰先行词Italian one（意大利版本），从句中作地点状语，用where引导定语从句，故填where。 【59题详解】 考查非谓语动词。句意：在东亚版本中，一群姐妹与老虎同床共枕，醒来时听到它正在啃食最小的妹妹的骨头。awake to do sth.表示“醒来做某事”，不定式表示意料之外的结果，故填to hear。 【60题详解】 考查被动语态。句意：也许食用亲属的残骸如此引人入胜，以至于无论故事讲得多糟糕，它都能保持流行。it（指代the story）与tell之间为被动关系，且陈述客观事实用一般现在时，故填is told。 V. Summary Writing (10’) 61. 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. The quality of our daily lives is deeply influenced by our sleep patterns. Among its many functions, sleep plays a particularly vital role in cognitive performance and brain health. Sleep is critical for memory consolidation and neural maintenance. During sleep, the brain processes and organizes information gathered throughout the day, transferring short-term memories into long-term storage. Research from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) reveals that deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep, is essential for synaptic pruning—a process where unnecessary neural connections are eliminated, while important ones are strengthened. This mechanism enhances learning efficiency and problem-solving abilities. Additionally, the glymphatic system, a waste-clearing network in the brain, becomes highly active during sleep, flushing out toxins like beta-amyloid, which is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, insufficient sleep disrupts these processes, impairing cognitive function and increasing the risk of neurodegenerative disorders. Sleep is indispensable for cognitive health due to the sheer amount of time humans spend sleeping over a lifetime. The average person sleeps for about one-third of their life—approximately 25 years or more. Even minor sleep deficits accumulate over time, leading to significant impacts on attention, creativity, and emotional regulation. For instance, a study published in “Nature” found that losing just 1-2 hours of sleep per night for a week can impair cognitive performance as severely as going without sleep for 24 hours. Chronic sleep deprivation in early adulthood has also been linked to reduced brain volume in regions responsible for decision-making and emotional control. Given that many individuals, especially students and professionals, sacrifice sleep for work or leisure, the long-term consequences on brain health cannot be overlooked. Renowned sleep researcher Dr. Matthew Walker emphasizes that society must prioritize sleep not as a luxury, but as a necessity. In his book “Why We Sleep”, he argues: “Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day. It is a non-negotiable biological requirement, not an optional lifestyle choice.” Adopting this mindset could transform how we structure our daily routines, ensuring that sleep is treated with the same importance as diet and exercise. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 【答案】 The passage highlights sleep patterns significantly impact daily life quality. Sleep is crucial for cognitive performance and brain health, as it helps with memory consolidation, neural maintenance, and toxin removal via the glymphatic system. Lack of sleep impairs cognitive function and raises the risk of neurodegenerative disorders. Given its importance, society should prioritize sleep as a necessity, not a luxury. 【解析】 【导语】这是一篇说明文。文章主要阐述了睡眠对认知表现和大脑健康的重要性及其相关影响。 【详解】1.要点摘录 ①Sleep patterns deeply influence daily life quality. ②Sleep is crucial for cognitive performance and brain health, aiding memory consolidation, neural maintenance, and toxin removal. ③Insufficient sleep impairs cognitive function and increases neurodegenerative risks. ④Society should prioritize sleep as a necessity, not a luxury. 2.缜密构思 将第1个要点作为引入，第2、3个要点进行整合，阐述睡眠的重要性和缺乏睡眠的危害，最后第4个要点作为总结。 3.遣词造句 Sleep is crucial for cognitive performance and brain health, as it helps with memory consolidation, neural maintenance, and toxin removal via the glymphatic system.   Lack of sleep impairs cognitive function and raises the risk of neurodegenerative disorders.  Given its importance, society should prioritize sleep as a necessity, not a luxury. 【点睛】【高分句型1】The passage highlights sleep patterns significantly impact daily life quality. 运用了省略引导词that的宾语从句，准确概括了原文第一段的内容。 【高分句型2】It is crucial for cognitive performance and brain health, as it helps with memory consolidation, neural maintenance, and toxin removal via the glymphatic system.运用了as引导的原因状语从句，准确概括了原文第二段的内容。 *VI. Translation (3’+3’+4’+5’=15’) Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets. 62. 失业后，他只能勉强维持生计，通过当司机赚点小钱。(subsistence) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ 【答案】After losing his job, he could barely earn a subsistence by working as a driver for a little money. 【解析】 【详解】考查非谓语动词、名词和固定搭配。句子描述过去发生的事，用一般过去时；介词after后用动名词形式作宾语，lose one’s job (失业)，“(他)失业后”翻译为after losing his job；“他”是he；“能”是could；“勉强”用副词barely；“维持生计”翻译为earn a subsistence；“通过”用介词by；“当司机赚点小钱”翻译为work as a driver for a little money，作介词by的宾语，动词work用动名词形式。故整句翻译为After losing his job, he could barely earn a subsistence by working as a driver for a little money. 63. 这位艺术家选择为创作自由牺牲了经济稳定，蜗居三层砖房的一间小工作室里。(sacrifice) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ 【答案】The artist chose to sacrifice economic stability for creative freedom, dwelling in a small studio in one of the three-story brick houses. 【解析】 【详解】考查短语和时态。发生在过去用一般过去时。主语“这位艺术家”为the artist；表示“选择”用动词choose to do sth.；表示“牺牲了经济稳定”可用sacrifice economic stability；表示“为创作自由”为for creative freedom；表示“蜗居三层砖房的一间小工作室里”翻译为现在分词作状语，与主语artist构成主动关系，为dwelling in a small studio in one of the three-story brick houses，故翻译为The artist chose to sacrifice economic stability for creative freedom, dwelling in a small studio in one of the three-story brick houses. 64. 正如曼德拉（Mandela）所言，“教育是最强大武器”，这一真理至今仍在激励全球推动社会公平的运动。(put) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ 【答案】As Mandela put it, “Education is the most powerful weapon,” a truth that continues to inspire the global movements for social justice to this day. 【解析】 【详解】考查动词短语、定语从句及名词短语。题目要求使用put造句，可以将“正如某人所言”翻译为as sb. put(s) it；“教育是最强大武器”是个主系表结构，翻译为Education is the most powerful weapon；“这一真理”可以处理为上一句的同位语，翻译为a truth；后面紧跟定语从句继续修饰先行词truth，先行词指物，关系词替代先行词在从句中充当主语，可使用关系代词that引导从句；从句中，continue to do sth. (继续做某事)，“激励全球推动社会公平的运动”翻译为inspire the global movements for social justice，“至今”翻译为to this day，讲的是客观现实，应该使用一般现在时，但是“曼德拉所言”使用一般过去时。故整句可翻译为As Mandela put it, “Education is the most powerful weapon,” a truth that continues to inspire the global movements for social justice to this day. 65. 凝望着窗外攀附在老墙上的常春藤，他突然有了故事的灵感：生命纵然在废墟中也要坚守，哪怕一切看似无望。(hit) (汉译英) _____________________________________________________________________ 【答案】Staring at the ivy clinging to the old wall outside the window, he was suddenly hit by the inspiration for his story: Life persists even in ruins, even when all seems hopeless. 【解析】 【详解】考查动词和名词。“凝望”用动词短语stare at表示；cling to (依附)和the ivy是逻辑主动关系，cling to用现在分词形式作后置定语，“攀附在老墙上的常春藤”翻译为the ivy clinging to the old wall；“窗外”翻译为outside the window；“凝望着窗外攀附在老墙上的常春藤”翻译为stare at the ivy clinging to the old wall outside the window，动词stare在句中作状语，与句子的主语he之间是主动关系，所以用现在分词staring作状语。“突然”是suddenly；be hit by (被……击中)，“他有了故事的灵感”（事情已发生用一般过去时）翻译为he was hit by the inspiration for his story；“生命纵然在废墟中也要坚守”（客观事实用一般现在时）翻译为Life persists even in ruins；“哪怕一切看似无望”（客观事实用一般现在时）用副词even强调when引导的时间状语从句，翻译为even when all seems hopeless。故整句翻译为Staring at the ivy clinging to the old wall outside the window, he was suddenly hit by the inspiration for his story: Life persists even in ruins, even when all seems hopeless. VII. Guided Writing 66. Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese. 假设你是某社区居民李华。最近，社区计划在小区中央的绿地上修建一个儿童游乐场，但部分居民反对，认为这会带来许多问题或争议。社区居委会决定召开居民会议讨论此事，请你写一封邮件给居委会主任，表达你的意见并提出建议。 要求： 1.说明可能存在的问题或争议； 2.提出合理的解决方案并阐述理由。 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 【答案】Dear Community Committee Director, I am Li Hua, a resident of our community. I am writing to share my thoughts on the plan to build a children’s playground in the central green area. I understand that some residents are concerned about potential issues. For example, the playground might cause noise disturbances, especially during evening hours when children are more active. Additionally, there could be safety concerns if the playground equipment is not properly maintained. However, I believe the benefits of having a playground outweigh these concerns. To address the noise issue, we could set specific operating hours, such as from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., to minimize disturbances to other residents. Regarding safety, the community could allocate a small budget for regular maintenance and inspections of the playground equipment. This way, we can ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for our children while also respecting the needs of all residents. I hope my suggestions can be considered in the upcoming meeting. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Best regards, Li Hua 【解析】 【导语】这篇写作是一篇建议信，要求考生就在中央绿地上修建儿童游乐场一事提出自己的建议。考生要囊括题目要求的几个要点，还要补充合理细节。 【详解】1. 词汇积累： 潜在的：potential → possible, likely 干扰：disturbances → disruptions, interferences 优先于：outweigh → exceed, surpass 预算：budget → financial plan, allocation 2. 句式拓展： 简单句变复合句 原句：I am writing to share my thoughts on the plan to build a children’s playground in the central green area. 拓展句：I am writing to share my thoughts on the plan, the purpose of which is to build a children’s playground in the central green area. 【点睛】【高级句型1】Additionally, there could be safety concerns if the playground equipment is not properly maintained. (if引导的条件状语从句) 【高级句型2】This way, we can ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for our children while also respecting the needs of all residents. (while 引导的状语从句省略句) 第1页/共1页 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $$