上海交通大学附属中学2025-2026学年度第二学期高一期中考试英语试卷

2025-2026学年度第二学期 高一英语期中考试卷 （满分150分，130分钟完成。答案一律写在答题纸上。） Part Ⅰ Ⅰ. Listening Comprehension (25') Section A Short Conversations 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. In a gym. B. At a circus. C. In a car. D. At a restaurant. 2. A. It is outstanding. B. It needs more promotion. C. It features a famous artist. D. It is far from his expectation. 3. A. What the conference is about. B. When the conference will be held. C. How they are going to the conference. D. Where they will go for the conference. 4. A. She would like some help. B. She does not want any help. C. She already has enough help. D. She is unsure if she needs help. 5. A. Work harder. B. Take a break. C. Change her job. D. Ignore the stress. 6. A. It will have sci-fi elements. B. It will inspire a sci-fi movie. C. It will have an age-old theme. D. It will ask participants to dress casually. 7. A. He failed to get the tickets. B. He got the tickets but it was difficult. C. He found a way to get the tickets easily. D. He decided to give up the tickets to the woman. 8. A. She is definitely going. B. She has decided not to go. C. She thinks the event will be boring. D. She is hesitant about whether to go. 9. A. She dislikes her new job. B. Last year was terrible for her. C. They have been busy for the last year. D. They need to accomplish more next year. 10. A. Success takes time and effort. B. He should rush his preparation. C. The presentation is unimportant. D. He should devote more to preparation. 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. Food traditions. B. Farming customs. C. Eating techniques. D. Animal domestication. 12. A. What they could plant as food. B. What animals they kept at home. C. What farming techniques they developed. D. What they could find in their surroundings. 13. A. Chopsticks. B. A seashell. C. Pointed knives. D. Spoons. Questions 14 through 16 are based on the following passage. 14. A. The future of the English language. B. The impact of the English language. C. The evolution of the English language. D. The protection of the English language. 15. A. English became standardized. B. English grammar became simpler. C. French was absorbed into English. D. French replaced English for a short time. 16. A. People all over the world had adapted it. B. The world needed a language for business. C. English was considered a flexible language. D. English contained a rich and large vocabulary. Questions 17 through 20 are based on the following conversation. 17. A. Approaches to gardening. B. The benefits of gardening. C. A community gardening project. D. Recipes for home-grown tomatoes. 18. A. He is greatly interested in gardening. B. He spends a lot of time on gardening. C. Gardening brings him close to nature. D. Gardening enables him to see various plants. 19. A. They allow for social bonding. B. They often involve big gardens. C. They require more special skills. D. They are popular among citizens. 20. A. The idea of making homemade salad. B. The opportunity to grow unusual plants. C. The suggestion to join a community garden. D. The availability of gardening tools at home. Ⅱ. Grammar and Vocabulary (25'+ 20*1'= 45') Section A Directions: Beneath each of the following sentences there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the answer that best completes the sentence. 21. This is the system in ______ development Professor Li actively participated, and it has revolutionized the way we process data. A. which B. where C. whose D. that 22. — See to it that the window ______ before you leave the classroom. — But the window just ______ shut properly. A. is closed… doesn’t B. is closed… won’t C. will be closed… won’t D. will be closed… doesn’t 23. They didn’t discover until they accidentally entered the room ______ someone had stolen the painting. A. which B. when C. where D. that 24. Adults, ______ overly concerned with fame and fortune, sometimes fail to see the joy in simple things ______ children do not. A. unless; but B. although; while C. when; where D. if; unless 25. The unemployment problem we are looking forward to seeing ______ ought to have drawn widespread concern. A. handling B. to be handled C. handled D. to handle 26. The new smartphone model turned out to be such a success ______ the manufacturer who designed the prototype (原型) immediately decided to launch a new series. A. when B. as C. since D. that 27. For years he was a mountain rescue volunteer, a job he was passionate about because it ______ into unfamiliar regions with a strong sense of purpose. A. was required to venture B. required venturing C. required to venture D. was required venturing 28. That’s such an amazing museum ______ every art enthusiast longs to visit, ______ countless precious artworks. A. where…housing B. which…housed C. that…housed D. as…housing 29. The old castle had stood undisturbed ______ the surrounding forest had grown to envelop it completely, creating an air of mystery around it. A. so long that B. for so long as C. as long as D. for so long that 30. In our discussion of the origins of the universe, we saw that there was reason to believe ______ we proposed must be based on scientific evidence rather than mere assumption. A. how B. which C. whatever D. that 31. It was not so much the opportunities she got ______ the way she seized and made the most of them ______ made her succeed. A. but; that B. as; that C. nor; which D. or; that 32. ______ attempts to smuggle (走私) the rare animals across the border, the smuggler is now facing severe legal consequences, including a long prison sentence and heavy fines. A. Found to have made B. Found to make C. To be found to have made D. Finding to have made 33. Despite every effort ______ to save the endangered species, the number of these animals in the wild continues to decline at an alarming rate. A. made B. has been made C. to be made D. having been made 34. Some are born lucky, some create luck by their actions, and some have luck ______ upon them. A. to shower B. showered C. being showered D. shower 35. When humans develop machines that are smarter than they are and machines begin to improve themselves, they risk ______ the mathematician IJ Good called an “intelligence explosion”. A. what B. which C. that D. whatever 36. Despite numerous setbacks, including a critical funding shortage, the startup company ______ managed to launch its innovative product on schedule. A. instantly B. permanently C. eventually D. significantly 37. The sudden closure of the manufacturing plant has ______ the local economy hard, triggering a chain reaction of bankruptcies among small businesses that relied on its supply chain. A. defeated B. hit C. stabilized D. boosted 38. The inventor demonstrated a(n) ______ mind during the brainstorming session, proposing several innovative solutions that even the most experienced engineers had overlooked. A. sharp B. alert C. cautious D. decisive 39. The marketing team decided to ______ several high-profile influencers to promote their new product. A. encounter B. approach C. pursue D. attain 40. The local café owner noticed that a man in a gray coat had become a(n) ______ over the past few months, always ordering the same drink and sitting at the same corner table. A. regular B. visitor C. guest D. sponsor 41. The ancient skill of navigating by the stars has become ______ in the age of GPS, as sailors rely on electronic devices instead. A. predictable B. expert C. glorious D. extinct 42. The thick fog rolling in from the sea ______ to delay the rescue operation, as visibility dropped to almost zero. A. guaranteed B. promised C. threatened D. contributed 43. The insurance company ______ the risk of flooding in the coastal area as “high” due to rising sea levels and frequent storms. A. rated B. categorized C. considered D. defined 44. After realizing that avoiding the difficult conversation with his boss would only make things worse, Mark decided to ______ and ask for a promotion despite the risk of rejection. A. break the ice B. bite the bullet C. burn the midnight oil D. beat around the bush 45. When Sarah saw the video of the animal being abused, it ______. She immediately called the police to report the incident. A. made her day B. made her blood boil C. beat her brains out D. put her at ease Section B 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) A. indicated B. objective C. package D. traditionally E. diversity F. countered G. identical H. function I. exactly J. equivalent K. similarity Impossible translations If you are fluent in any language other than English, you have probably noticed that some things are impossible to translate 46 . A Japanese designer marveling at an object’s shibui (a sort of simple yet timelessly elegant beauty) may feel frustrated by English’s lack of a precise 47 . The words of different languages can divide and 48 their speakers’ thoughts and experiences differently, and provide support for the theory of “linguistic relativity”. This theory derives in part from the American linguist Edward Sapir’s 1929 claim that languages 49 to “index” their speakers’ “network of cultural patterns”. Yet Sapir also went a step further, claiming language users “do not live in the 50 world alone, but are very much at the mercy” of their languages. Few theories have proven as controversial. Sapir’s student Benjamin famously claimed in 1940 that the Hopi language’s lack of verb tenses (past, present, future) 51 its speakers have a different “psychic (心理的) experience” of time and the universe than Western physicists. This was 52 by a later study devoting nearly 400 pages to the language of time in Hopi, which included concepts such as “today”, “January” and so on. There is truth in both perspectives. At least some aspects of human languages must be 53 or nearly so, since they are all used by members of the same human species, with the same sorts of brains and patterns of communication. Yet recent increases in understanding of the world’s Indigenous (本土的) languages have taught us two important additional lessons. First, there is far more 54 among the world’s languages than previously believed. Second, differences are often related to the patterns of culture and environment in which languages are 55 spoken. For example, in many Himalayan languages, an expression like “that house” comes in three flavors: “that-house-upward”, “that-house-downward” and “that-house-on-the-same-level”—a reflection of the mountainous area where these speakers live in. When their speakers migrate to lower-elevation regions, the system may shift from “upward/downward” to “upriver/downriver”. (B) A. disciplines B. focused C. compatible D. maintain E. relatively F. economics G. nominated H. learnable I. specialize J. negatively K. comparable In every field, elite youth performers and elite adults were almost entirely separate groups. Around 90% of superstar adults had not been superstars as children, while only 10% of top-level kids had gone on to become exceptional adults. It is not just that exceptional performance in childhood did not predict exceptional performance as an adult. The two were actually 56 correlated, says Dr Güllich. The adult superstars also had a different approach to their fields from that of the child prodigies (神童) in that they seemed to 57 interests besides the one in which they eventually became elite. The best sportsmen and women tended to have played several sports at a(n) 58 high level. Their performance in the sport they played lagged behind that of their more 59 peers when they were young. But when they did 60 , their progress was much quicker. The same was true in other 61 . Nobel-prizewinning scientists were less likely to have won academic scholarships than those 62 for a Nobel who did not win. They also took longer to reach senior academic positions and had less impressive early publication records. Why so many exceptional performers show the same pattern of later flowering is hard to answer. The researchers consulted the literature on excellence for theories of how it arises, but none seemed 63 with their data. Instead, they offer assumptions of their own. One is “search and match”, an idea derived from labour-market 64 . This holds that having a broad range of interests and waiting before choosing offers a better chance of finding the field best suited to your talents. The young Rafael Nadal — another all-time-great tennis player — experimented with a career in football before opting for tennis. A second is “enhanced learning”, the idea that learning is itself a(n) 65 skill, and that a good way to develop it is to pursue a variety of things. The last is the limited-risk hypothesis that avoiding the hothouse (高强度环境) may stop youngsters from burning out after spending years pursuing it to the exclusion of all else. The researchers hope to extend their analysis to more fields such as business and art. Ⅲ. Reading Comprehension (15'+30'= 45') Section A 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. Who Actually Wrote What You’re Reading? For decades, readers rarely questioned the authorship of what they encountered online. Today, that certainty 66 . Artificial intelligence has become capable of producing convincing content at extraordinary speed. This change hasn’t arrived with a dramatic announcement. Instead, it has 67 integrated into everyday digital life. AI-generated text seems polished and informative, but in the 68 of obvious signs that a machine produced it. Readers and professionals alike are increasingly turning to AI detector tools to better trace the source of what they read. The most striking part lies in how 69 modern AI writing sounds. Trained on an enormous database to reproduce tone, structure, and style with impressive accuracy, AI-produced materials appear indistinguishable from human-created content. This ability has obvious 70 . Writers draft content faster, businesses organize information more efficiently. To the great relief of self-taught ones, educational materials can be produced 71 . Yet when both humans and machines can produce equally convincing text, trouble arises. Traditional hints that once 72 authorship become unreliable. Tone alone no longer reveals whether an article reflects living experience or algorithmic (算法的) prediction. Some may wonder why authorship matters if information itself is useful. The answer is 73 and context. Human authors contribute responsibility and expertise. If a claim is challenged, they can explain their reasoning; if an error appears, they have to take the blame. By contrast, AI operates differently: it generates text from data patterns rather than 74 understanding. A prescription written by a doctor carries more weight than an automatic AI version, as it is rooted in 75 knowledge with no context-free generalizations. Consequently, the rise of AI-generated writing is introducing a new dimension to 76 . In the past, readers learned to cross-check facts, spot misinformation or identify 77 online. Today, they must also consider the origin of content to determine how it should be interpreted. 78 , tools designed to identify AI-written content — by examining characteristics such as sentence predictability, structure, and language patterns — have come into being. These tools help maintain trustworthiness for the press, support academic 79 for educational world, and offer a way to better understand what is shaping the information they consume. The internet has always evolved 80 with technology. Historically, Search engines changed how people find information, social media changed how they share it. And now, with AI rewriting the rules of content creation, the Internet’s newest question may be simple, but it carries lasting significance: who actually wrote what you’re reading? 66. A. expands B. endures C. emerges D. fades 67. A. keenly B. quietly C. inevitably D. properly 68. A. absence B. representation C. disturbance D. supply 69. A. natural B. mechanical C. formal D. shallow 70. A. requirements B. limitations C. features D. advantages 71. A. at ease B. at scale C. at leisure D. at random 72. A. targeted B. recognized C. analyzed D. signaled 73. A. humanity B. accountability C. priority D. quantity 74. A. genuine B. temporary C. instinctive D. mutual 75. A. extensive B. fundamental C. professional D. internal 76. A. technology dependence B. digital literacy C. school discipline D. social norm 77. A. clues B. prejudices C. proofs D. patterns 78. A. Controversially B. Luckily C. Specifically D. Literally 79. A. integrity B. diversity C. vitality D. consistency 80. A. neck and neck B. toe to toe C. face to face D. hand in hand Section B Directions: Read the following three 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) Several years ago, I began asking my friends and family to tell me their passwords. I had come to believe that these tiny personalized codes get a bum rap. Yes, I understand why passwords are universally hated: the strains they put on our memory, the endless demand to update them, their sheer number. I hate them too. But there is more to passwords than their annoyance. In the fact that we construct them so that we (and only we) will remember them, they take on secret lives. Many of our passwords are filled with suffering, mischief, sometimes even poetry. Often they have rich backstories. There was the former prisoner whose password includes what used to be his identification number (“a reminder not to go back”): the childless 45-year-old whose password is the name of the baby boy she lost (“my way of trying to keep him alive, I guess”). Sometimes the passwords were playful. Several people said they used incorrect for theirs so that when they forgot it, the software automatically gave them the right one (“your password is incorrect”). Some passwords were striking for their creativity, folding big thoughts down into tidy little codes. After being inspired by Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Cortni Kerr, a running partner of mine, began using Ww$dol3, which stood for “What would Sheryl Sandberg do” plus “13” for the year (2013) of the password’s creation. TnsitTpsif was the password of another friend, a computer scientist who loves wordplay. It stands for “The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false.” which in philosophy is called a liar’s paradox. For my friend, it was a playful reference to the knots that language can tie. While asking strangers about their passwords is a touchy proposition, it’s not every day that you come across a conversation topic that teaches you new things about people you’ve known for years. The 4622 that my wife uses in her passwords was not just the address of her own father’s childhood home but also a reminder of his weakness and strength. Apparently when the former 270-pound football standout, a scholarship athlete and the pride of his working-class neighborhood in west Tulsa, was a small boy, he had to sing his home address (4622 South 28th West Avenue) in one full breath rather than try to say it normally, otherwise, his stutter (口吃) would trip him up. 81. What does the phrase “a bum rap” in paragraph 1 most probably mean? A. an imaginative story B. an unreasonable structure C. a false blame D. a notable exception 82. Which of the following passwords does the writer use as an example of those with a touch of humour? A. An identification number. B. The word “incorrect” C. WwS$do13. D. TnsitTpsif. 83. Why does the writer’s wife use the number “4622” in her passwords? A. It reminded her of her father. B. It helped her to overcome stutter. C. It was the address of her childhood home. D. It was part of the name of her favourite song. 84. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage? A. The Development of Passwords. B. The Secret Lives of Passwords. C. Why Everybody Hates Passwords. D. Passwords: What We Can’t Live Without. (B) COURSE: History 101 “Introduction to American History” INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Jane Klammer OFFICE: 305 Marshall Hall OFFICE HOURS: 11:15-12:30 M W F (Monday Wednesday Friday) CLASS: 363 Marshall Hall 3:35-5:00 T Th (Tuesday Thursday) 10:10-11:00 M W F Other times by appointment TELEPHONE: 255-4786 TEXTBOOK: Green, Robert P, The American Tradition: A History of the United States. Charles E. Merrill publishing Co. Columbus, Ohio 1984, which is available at the College Bookstore. COURSE Requirements: mid-term exam: October 10 20% of the final grade final exam: December 10 40% of the final grade term paper due: December 15 40% of the final grade Attendance is not required, but you are responsible for all the information given in the class lectures. In the lectures, I will talk about the chapters in the textbook and other material that I choose to supplement the course. The exams will cover all this information. Therefore, I advise you to come to the class as much as possible. If you have to miss a class, be sure to get the class notes from another student. Your homework assignments are listed on the next page. You are supposed to read the chapter about which I will be lecturing before you come to class. This is to make sure that you understand as much as possible while taking notes in my lectures. Be prepared when you come to class. If there are any changes in the assigned homework reading, I will announce in class. The term paper is 40% of your final grade. It should not exceed fifteen pages. (Anyone thinking of majoring in history may write twenty-five pages.) Before the mid-term exam you will choose the topic for your paper. Have a good term! 85. If a student wants to know what the homework assignments are, . A. Prof. Klammer announces them in class B. the student reads the list on the next page C. Prof. Klammer gives a list every week D. The student goes to the professor’s office 86. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE? A. The textbook is written by Dr. Jane Klammer. B. If you miss a class, be sure to say sorry to Prof. Klammer. C. Prof. Klammer advises her students to preview the chapters to be covered in class. D. The students can buy “Introduction to American History” at the College Bookstore. 87. If Amber Chen, a freshman, thinks that she might major in history, what is the maximum length of her paper can be? A. Fifteen pages. B. Twenty-five pages. C. Ten pages. D. No maximum. (C) Bad luck always seems to strike at the worst possible moment. A man about to interview for his dream job gets stuck in traffic. A law student taking her final exam wakes up with a blinding headache. A runner twists his ankle minutes before a big race. These are all perfect examples of cruel fate. Or are they? Psychologists who study such common accidents now believe that in many instances they may be carefully arranged schemes of the subconscious mind and that people often engage in a form of self-defeating behavior known as self-handicapping — or, in plain terms, excuse-making. It’s a simple process: By taking on a crippling handicap, a person makes it more likely that he or she will fail at an endeavor. Though it seems like a crazy thing to do, researchers say it is actually a clever trick of the mind, one that sets up a win-win situation by allowing a person to save face when he or she does fail. A classic self-handicapper is the French chess player Deschapelles who quickly became champion of his region. But when competition grew tougher, he adopted a new condition for all matches: He would compete only if his opponent would remove one of Deschapelles’ pawns (国际象棋中的兵) and make the first move, increasing the chance that Deschapelles would lose. If he did lose, he could blame it on the other player’s advantage; but if he won, he would be more respected for his amazing talents. Psychologists now use the term “Deschapelles coup” to refer to acts of self-handicapping prevailing in today’s world. Overall, men are more likely than women to make excuses. Several studies suggest that men feel the need to appear competent in all realms, while women worry only about the skills in which they’ve invested heavily. Ask a man and a woman to go diving for the first time; the woman is likely to jump in, while the man is likely to first make it known that he’s not feeling too well. In fact, the people most likely to become chronic excuse makers are those obsessed with success, says the researcher. Such people are so afraid of being labeled a failure at anything that they constantly develop one handicap or another in order to explain their failures. Self-handicapping may be an effective way of coping with performance anxiety. In the end, researchers say, it is a Faustian bargain. Over the long run, excuse makers fail to live up to their true potential. And despite their protests to the contrary, they have only themselves to blame. 88. Which of the following is the chief topic of the passage? A. An analysis on how people avoid failure. B. A comparison between the ways men and women avoid failure. C. The story of a classic self-handicapper, Deschapelles. D. The psychological tricks some people use to avoid failure. 89. It can be inferred from the passage that a student who wanted to engage in self-handicapping would most probably . A. work as hard as possible for an important exam B. try to cheat on a test to get a high score C. get drunk the night before a big exam D. take down only the key points in the class 90. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage? A. Men are more competent than women in most trades. B. Deschapelles’ way of self-handicapping was to give his opponents more advantages. C. By self-handicapping, Deschapelles succeeded in showing the true limits of his ability. D. Men are more ready to face new challenges than women. 91. By saying “it is a Faustian bargain,” researchers mean that . A. self-handicapping is often an effective method of dealing with anxiety B. chronic excuse-making is an indication of one’s depression C. excuse-makers will suffer from the destructive behavior eventually D. self-handicapping behavior is a difficult and complex process to understand Section C Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need. (D) A. A study revealed a “significant negative correlation between frequent A.I. tool usage and critical thinking abilities.” B. A reduced ability to use our brains also has worrying personal effects. C. As we weaken our brains, we also threaten to weaken our economy. D. The rise of social media platforms has led to a global decline in literacy rates. E. A meta-analysis released last fall showed that consuming short-form video content is associated with poorer cognition and reduced attention. F. A recent study in neuroscience suggests that human brains are naturally evolving to adapt to the advance of A.I. Research from Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, indicates that our attention spans are about one-third as long as they were in 2004, with the biggest drops happening around 2012. Long-running surveys reveal that the percentage of 18-year-olds who report difficulty thinking and concentrating has jumped markedly over the past decade. Many of these declines in cognitive skills became notable starting in the mid-2010s, exactly the period when smartphones took over the world and the digital attention economy exploded in size. An increasing amount of research implies that this timing is no coincidence. 92 . The growth of A.I. has brought new cognitive concerns. 93 . Another recent study, which tracked the brain activity of research subjects who were writing with the help of large language models, found that “brain connectivity systematically scaled down with the amount of external support.” The loss of our ability to think is a big deal. Close to 40 percent of the U.S. GDP comes from so-called knowledge and technology-intensive industries, from aerospace manufacturing to financial and information services. Companies in these fields transform advanced human thought into revenue. 94 . It is notable that productivity growth in the private business sector stagnated (停滞) during the 2010s, when technology became measurably more distracting. 95 . Thinking is what lets us make sense of information in a complicated world. As president, Abraham Lincoln used to regularly retreat to his cottage to find the solitude needed to think intensively about the decisions facing him as commander in chief. A contemporary letter from a Treasury (财政部) employee visiting Lincoln at the cottage during these years describes finding the president “reposed in a broad chair, one leg hanging over its arm. He seemed to be in deep thought.” *Part Ⅱ Ⅰ. Grammar (10' + 10') Section 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. (A) As spring weather settles over the Northern Hemisphere, those barren branches will soon be bursting with color. Just like humans, plants have a circadian clock (生物钟) which helps 1 tell time. They rely on seasonal changes to both air temperature and sunlight 2 (know) that winter is on its way out and that it’s time to bloom. Longer days and warmer temperatures are the seasonal cues for plants that bloom in the spring. Plants with leaves are particularly sensitive 3 sunlight, which steadily increases from March until the summer solstice (夏至) in late June. For plants like daffodils and tulips 4 the flower comes out of the ground or on branches like cherry trees, increasing temperatures are their main cue to bloom. Chronobiologist Takato Imaizumi from the University of Washington shares more about 5 our planet’s plants sense these seasonal changes. California’s notorious hot and dry Death Valley (死亡谷) 6 (see) a wildflower superbloom this year thanks to extra rain. 7 the bloom is past peak in some locations, higher elevations will see blooms from April through June. Washington DC’s famed cherry blossom trees also 8 (project) to reach peak bloom March 29 through April 1. The yoshinotrees (日本樱花树) that 9 (dot) the National Mall typically bloom for several days. The length depends on weather conditions. Cool and calm weather can extend the length of the bloom, while a rainy, windy day can halt (阻碍) these delicate blossoms. A late frost can also prevent the trees 10 (bloom) at all. (B) Endangered penguins living off South Africa’s coast have likely starved in large numbers due to food shortages, a study said, with some populations dropping by 95% in just eight years. The species 11 (list) as critically endangered last year by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Two of 12 (important) breeding colonies near Cape Town had collapsed between 2004 and 2011, with some 62,000 birds estimated 13 (die), the study by the UK’s University of Exeter and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said. In those eight years, sardine (沙丁鱼) populations in South African waters— 14 main food source for penguins—were consistently below 25% of their peak abundance, said co-author and biologist Richard Sherley. This drop in sardine stocks was due to fishing practices 15 (combine) with environmental causes such as changes in water temperatures and salinity (盐度). “This appears to have caused severe food shortage for African penguins, leading to a(n) 16 (estimate) loss of about 62,000 breeding individuals,” Sherley said. The scientists said the global population of the species 17 (decline) by nearly 80% in the past 30 years. Conservationists say that 18 the current rate of population decrease, the bird could be extinct in the wild by 2035. For 10 years, authorities have imposed a commercial fishing ban around six penguin colonies, including Robben and Dassen islands, the two sites 19 (observe) in the study. Other initiatives underway include artificial nests and 20 (create) new colonies. The birds are a strong attraction for tourists to South Africa, with thousands of people visiting colonies each year. But the pressure from tourism also disturbs the birds and causes enhanced stress. Ⅱ. Translation (3'+3'+4'+5') Directions: Translate the following phrases and sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets. 21. 我们不禁好奇，此次培训面向的对象是谁。(target v.) 22. 这位物理学家致力于与那位数学家合作，以攻克这一长期存在的难题。(dedicate) 23. 未来是否会有这样一个时刻：研究人员会开发出一种革命性的材料，该材料即便在最强地震发生时也能防止建筑物倒塌？(keep) 24. 与传统教学方式相比，线上教育在一定程度上更具灵活性，这主要归功于教育者配备了先进的数字化工具。(arm v.) 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $