河南省永城市高级中学2025-2026学年高三秋季入学摸底考试英语试题

永城市高级中学2025年9月高三秋季入学摸底考试

英语试题

第二部分：阅读理解(共两节，满分50分)

第一节(共15小题；每小题2.5分，满分37.5分)

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

A

Solving the growing plastic waste puzzle

      As hard as it is to imagine a time when we weren’t buried in plastics, mass production of synthetic polymers(合成聚合物) didn’t really begin until about 1950. Since then, however, we’ve generated an estimated 8.3 billion tons of the stuff — with about half that total coming since 2000 — and we’ve deserted something like 6.3 billion tons of it.

      Unfortunately for the planet, only about 9 percent of that plastic waste has ever been recycled. Another 12 percent has been burned, most recently in waste-to-energy facilities.

But most of the rest has gone into landfills — or worse, into the environment.

      Much of what is done to recover plastic from the waste stream is a purely mechanical process. Once the plastic items have been sorted by polymer type and sent to the recycling workplace, they are simply cut up, washed clean and melted down into pellets(团粒). The pellets are then sold to manufacturers that will incorporate(组合) the material into new products.

     Many of the chemical recycling techniques are already quite mature. According to a 2019 report by Closed Loop Partners, a New York-based investment firm that invests in circulareconomy-related startups, that list includes more than 40 plastics recycling plants that are either operating or scheduled to open within the next few years in the United States and Canada alone. At least some of those plants are expected to incorporate chemical recycling technology.

21.When does plastic waste reach its peak?

    A.Before 1950.                                       B.Before 2000.

    C.After 2019.                                          D.In recent decades.

22.At which procedure can plastics waste be made into monomers?

  A.Plastic manufacturing.   B.Oil and gas refining. 

  C.Chemical recycling.    D.Mechanical recycling.

23.What is the sign of successful plastic waste recycling?

  A.Plastic waste recycling becomes commercialized.

  B.Plastic waste has been made into new plastics.

  C.Most of plastic waste has already gone into landfills.

  D.Much has been burned in waste-to-energy facilities.

B

     Jesse Barber, a documentary photographer and lifelong resident of Western North Carolina, brings a deeply personal camera to cover the destruction of Hurricane Helene. As a graduate of Appalachian State University in Documentary and Appalachian Studies, Barber focuses on capturing(拍摄) rural life in his beloved mountains. However, Helene presented an unexpected challenge.

    “The photos of destruction are endless, and are going to continue to be endless,” he said. Barber drove over 1,000 miles in the region over three days last week, to Brevard and beyond, finding the shots, talking with rescue workers and residents. But as a local, Barber brought a different focus than many journalists and photographers covering the storm’s destruction and the beginnings of recovery. “I started to feel the outsider in me becomes the insider,”  he says.

His copious knowledge of the conditions in the area proved crucial. When an editor suggested staying in an Asheville hotel, Barber knew it was impossible. Leaving his own flooding basement, he found no gas or food, realizing the situation was far worse than editors understood. At a Marion gas station, he photographed a man whose house was half-destroyed, a pure introduction to the degree of personal loss.

      Barber’s approach prioritized connection over quick disaster shots. “I’m trying to experience and listen,” he says, valuing the sense of place and people. While documenting shocking geological changes, he also sought resilience(韧性) and hope among the disaster. He met tired and hungry residents maintaining positive attitudes, like a Bat Cave-born volunteer firefighter in Chimney Rock who insisted, “We’ll be all right… Things will be a little different but we’ll still be here.”

 As national attention shifts, Barber will remain focused on Appalachia. His rapid response during Helene “confirmed my investment in staying rooted in place,” he says, ensuring his choice to live in Morganton over larger art centres. “I do feel like my work and my instruction are worthwhile. I just want to do my people good.”

 

24.What prepared Barber to cover Hurricane Helene?

   A.His studies in big cities.  B.His local life experience.

  C.Special disaster training.  D.Work with national media.

25.What does the underlined word “copious” in paragraph 3 mean?

    A.Limited.      B.Enormous.        C.Advanced.  D.Further.

26.What makes Barber’s photos different from others?

  A.Centering on destruction.  B.Ignoring people’s suffering.

  C.Focusing on people’s spirits.  D.Avoiding geological change.

27.What does Barber’s story show?

   A.Social responsibilities matter.  B.Disaster shots define impact.

   C.Big cities offer better growth.  D.Teamwork is crucial in media.

C

   Electric vehicles (EVs) are cars with engines powered by electricity rather than the internal combustion engines(内燃机) found in gasoline-powered cars.

      Across the world, traditional producers are adding EVs to their product lineups, as well as improving battery technology and vehicle range. In many markets, EVs are now cheaper to operate than traditional gasoline-powered vehicles, though upfront costs are higher. And EVs are only expected to get cheaper. But do they have any advantages in saving our environment?

     In short, yes. A common sense about EVs is that harvesting the elements needed to produce their batteries is more harmful for the environment than building an ICEV(内燃机汽车) is. Despite the higher greenhouse gas emissions(排放) associated with building EVs, their total emissions over

the life of the car can be 40% to 60% lower than the emissions of ICEVs, because EVs do not produce any carbon dioxide when driven.

 Although the harvesting of rare Earth minerals and other elements needed for EV batteries is environmentally harmful, EV batteries can be recycled at the end of their lifetime. For instance, battery recycling company Umicore says it can reclaim 95% of metallic substances such as nickel, copper and cobalt in EV batteries for reuse.

     Because EVs tend to be heavier than ICEVs and produce higher torque(扭矩), some have argued that EVs wear through tyres more quickly and produce more particulate matter — a harmful material than gas-powered cars do. A study by researchers at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. found that tyre breakdown accounted for 28% of the world’s microplastics.

      But tyre friction in both ICEVs and EVs produces particulate pollution, and driving style and road quality have bigger impacts on how much pollution is produced, German tyre 

producer Continental told The Guardian.

       Finally, if power plants and car producing plants increasingly use renewable sources of energy, the initial emissions associated with making EVs will approach zero. ICEVs, in comparison, will always release CO2.

28.What is a difference in cost between EVs and ICEVs?

   A.ICEVs need cheaper repairs.  B.ICEVs save more on fuel.

  C.EVs have lower upfront costs.  D.EVs have less driving expense.

29.What does the example of Umicore show about EV battery recycling?

  A.It recovers more renewable items.

  B.It is not yet widely adopted in EVs.

  C.It causes new environmental problems.

  D.It focuses on non-metallic elements.

30.Why might future EVs be even better for the environment?

  A.They will use fewer rare Earth minerals.

  B.More industries may use renewable energy.

  C.They will become lighter than traditional cars.

  D.Tyre technology will stop producing microplastics.

31.What can be a suitable title for the text?

  A.How Are EV Batteries Recycled?

  B.EVs vs ICEVs: Cost Comparison?

  C.The Future of Renewable Energy in Cars?

  D.More Environmentally Friendly, ICEVs or EVs?

D

The gravitational pull of Mars may be strong enough to stir(搅动) up Earth’s ocean, shifting its sediment(沉淀物) as part of a 2.4-million-year climate cycle, researchers claim.

     It has long been accepted that shakes in Earth’s orbit around the sun influence the planets climate, with these Milankovitch cycles operating on periods measured in thousands of years. Now, Adriana Dutkiewicz at the University of Sydney and her teammates say they have found a 2.4-million-year “Grand Cycle”, which they believe is driven by Mars and has had dramatic impacts on currents in Earths oceans for at least 40 million years.

     The evidence for this cycle comes from almost 300 deepsea drill cores that reveal unexpected variation in the ocean sediment. During periods of stable ocean currents, oceanographers expect sediment to settle in steady layers, but unusual currents can see it store elsewhere.

 According to the team, absences or interruptions in the sediment record line up with times when Mars’s gravity puts maximum force on Earth, impacting our planet’s orbital stability. This changes solar radiation levels and climate, resulting in stronger currents in the oceans.

      Team member Dietmar Müller, also at the University of Sydney, acknowledges that the distance between Earth and Mars is so vast that it is hard to imagine any significant gravitational